About

Danske Bank’s operations in Sweden have historical roots dating back to the 19th century; the Bank was previously known under the name of Östgöta Enskilda Bank, which it traded under until 2011. A commercial bank currently offering a range of financial services to its customers, the legal department has also undergone changes in recent times, with head of legal Magnus Sjöcrona at the forefront of these. Having joined the company after spending a total of eight years at two different law firms, Sjöcrona details his quick rise within the business since being appointed chief legal adviser in 2014. He states: ‘[I] became country coordinator during 2014, was appointed deputy head of legal beginning of 2016 [and] as promoted to head of legal during summer 2017, the current position I hold’. Such a rapid rise within the business shows his nous and capabilities in legal and corporate settings, and his work has made a difference to the company’s bottom line through his contribution to all issues that involve the Swedish business of Danske Bank, including a number of transactions and litigations. Reflecting the ways in which banking and finance laws and regulations often change at short notice, Sjöcrona has taken a flexible way of working during his leadership of the department. His ethos has included ‘getting rid of face time and focusing more on the tasks and getting things done’, adding ‘it does not really matter when and where you perform, as long as you meet deadlines and deliver. This has proved successful in recruiting and retaining the people we want and also have a can-do-attitude’. Sjöcrona notes three particular highlights of his in-house career, starting with team building efforts that involved merging two different legal departments into one ‘robust and united’ function. He also worked with and implemented ‘global career paths and unified title structure across legal globally’, further tightening and codifying the team, which has had the effect of ‘the global legal team [being] more of a team and it is an exciting chance for us to leverage on [in the] coming years’. Further evidence he is amongst the most forward-thinking and capable in-house lawyers in the Swedish financial sector is through his leadership of Danske Bank’s response to the MiFID II regulatory framework, which came in to effect in January 2018. Of this he states: ‘As global legal lead [for MiFID II] I have led a big cross functional and cross-country global legal team in the whole implementation of MiFID II. This has really made me understand the Bank, different countries and the enormous potential there is in collaboration and opening up’.