About

Swedbank is a full service bank headquartered in Stockholm that caters for companies and private individuals. The bank is known to have a strong legal team across the Nordic region, but nominators pointed specifically to the outstanding work of the Norwegian arm of the financial services provider. Thomas Rygg Hannestad leads the legal department of four that supports the operations of Swedbank Norge. The legal team is widely acclaimed for a heightened focus on routines, archives and systems, which have become increasingly important according to the expansion of the business. The team played an integral role in the development of manuals and check lists, which largely improved overall efficiency and productivity across a number of departments within the bank. The implementation of a manual for high yield issues is considered to be the most impressive innovation that the legal team has introduced in the recent past. The recent drop in oil prices has presented an array of challenges for the legal department, customers have experienced difficulties from the market and this has resulted in the entire organisation undertaking increased workloads and various forms of restructuring. Nonetheless, this has not impacted the quality of the work that the legal function continues to produce despite the increase in overall activities. The team’s close interaction with the CEO and senior management has ensured that the legal department remain at the forefront of all major decisions at Swedbank Norge, offering their support to the business as effectively as possible.