Team size: 16

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department?

Our legal team comprises skilled lawyers and experts in the banking sector. Most of our lawyers have previously worked for other banks or government authorities, acquiring profound knowledge in their legal area of interest. I want particularly mention Jan Bjørnsen — senior securities lawyer; Henrik Bonge, privacy expert; Camilla Waldjac, dedicated AML-lawyer. And finally, Kari Amalie Pettersen is on the credit side. We have recently recruited promising colleagues, who I am sure, will distinguish themselves

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

During the past few years, our focus has been on compliance. We have been working to establish new ways of implementing coming legislation quickly and correctly. Additionally, we set up a system for following up on compliance reports to ensure the resolution of compliance issues once they have been identified.

In a changing financial landscape, how does the company remain competitive against new phenomena such as fintech and blockchain, and how does the legal team assist with this?

Our priorities going forward will be financing, investments and advisory services. I expect to see closer partnerships with our fintech frenemies. On sustainability, Handelsbanken is very ambitious. The bank’s goal is to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2040. This goal applies to business operations — lending, financing and investments; and includes the emissions deriving from our energy consumption and business trips.

How does the team contribute constructively to the growth and expansion of the company?

We aim to be close to the business, understand what the company is doing and get involved in the early stages of projects. We look at it like in Hollywood movies — when an asteroid is approaching the Earth, caught on time, it can avoid hitting the planet. It works the same for legal issues – if we get involved at the outset, we can nudge projects in the right direction.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

As in-house counsel, we are experiencing the same as many other professionals. We now have a trial period where colleagues are welcome at the office but may choose to work from home two days a week. Working from home increases flexibility and focus. But it has proved challenging regarding knowledge sharing and building team culture. We have introduced weekly ‘fika’ sessions —we serve candy and seek to lure lawyers to our workplace. Fika is a Swedish word meaning to have a break where you drink coffee and relax with others.

Helge Lundestad
General counsel
Handelsbanken