Sirpa Nordlund

What does long-term living abroad teach us about transformation? 🎙️ In my recent guest appearance on the "Brain Boosted Transformation" podcast by Marija Radtke, we explored a fascinating topic: The Expat Effect—how long stays abroad boost creativity and change competence. 🧠 During my time living and working in Finland, I gained insights that apply to personal transformation and even organizational change. In the episode, we discuss key takeaways, including: ❇ What you should avoid at all costs in order to have a successful experience abroad ❇ Why emotional aspects rooted in neurobiology matter more than you think ❇ How agile principles can be applied to relocating abroad ❇ Why companies should encourage international experiences for their employees A special moment? Reflecting on Herman Hesse's quote: “In all beginnings dwells a magic force”. To me, this sums up the unique value of stepping into the unknown. ✨ 🎧 Check out the full podcast episode (in German) in the comments below! What’s your take - have you ever worked abroad? How did it transform you? Let’s share experiences! 🌍 🛫

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Finnish-founded card issuer and #payments processor Enfuce is bringing its two-in-one debit and credit card to the UK, France and Germany. The concept of a ‘combination card’ has become an industry standard in Enfuce's home market of the Nordics but is less common in the rest of Europe. The E2 Mastercard card gives users both credit and debit PANs in one piece of plastic with one PIN. Cardholders can set their default payment depending on preference, and then instantly switch between the two at the point of sale. The company is pitching to issuers, arguing that dual-PAN removes the need to provide two cards, adding flexibility and reducing plastic consumption. Clients can also customise card products with things like custom limits and controls made in real-time. Denise Johansson, Co-CEO, Enfuce, says: “We believe that our 2-in-1 card could soon become an industry norm, as it has done in the Nordics. We’re proud to be able to answer a clear gap in the market for both banks and consumers, giving an added boost to the rich #fintech ecosystem in the UK, France and Germany.” #yoursuccessourbusiness

🌍✨ Happy International HR Day! ✨🌍 What better way to celebrate than by starting a conversation about HR wellbeing? HR professionals are the backbone of every organization, tirelessly supporting and nurturing others. But how do we ensure their own cup is full? How do we make sure they put their oxygen mask on first? This will be our topic for today's ✨Mirro.io Spark✨ meetup! Join the conversation and share your ideas on how we can better support our HR heroes! 💬👇 #InternationalHRDay #HRWellbeing #SupportHR #EmployeeWellbeing #HRHeroes

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The Nordic Banking Forum 2024 in Helsinki on November 28th is nearing - and we're excited to announce our participation. This premier event will gather over 400 decision-makers and 30+ industry-leading speakers to explore the evolving banking landscape in the Nordics and Baltics. Don't miss Taneli Oxman, Nordic Banking Tech Lead at Accenture, discussing 'Setting the Stage: Tomorrow’s Strategic Pathways for Nordic Banks.' Taneli will cover crucial technology modernization and strategic planning for the 2030 decade. "Rising IT costs and tech debt challenge banks as customers demand real-time services. Increasing security and regulatory requirements add to the strain. We're committed to navigating these complexities to deliver secure, real-time banking experiences," says Taneli Oxman. Join us for insightful discussions and networking with fellow financial sector leaders. Here you can find the agenda for the forum: https://accntu.re/4fFDKpI #BankingInnovation #BankingTransformation #DataDriven #AI #GenAI

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The Scandinavian bank SEB announces an embedded banking partnership with a local retailer. Will it succeed? Finally, the news is out. It was highly expected that the banking-as-a-service unit SEB Embedded from Scandinavian bank SEB would announce their very first customer soon. And according to the rumours, this was likely going to be a retailer. And today, these are not rumours anymore but facts. SEB partners with one of the biggest Swedish retail chains Hemköp. The retail chain, which is owned by Axfood, says that this the very first step in their journey. Does this mean more financial services will follow? Personally, I am very excited about this announcement for two reasons. Firstly, this is a major retailer partnering with a major bank. In Europe, we do not have many banks that actively partner with unregulated companies for banking products. Thus, SEB Embedded itself is a really interesting project that I follow closely. Kudos to Christoffer Malmer, Charlotte Lagercrantz and team! With this announcement, SEB Embedded is not just a bank's innovative initiative but a provider with actual clients. Secondly, this is (another) major retailer launching a banking product. You probably remember Coop and their banking product, which was closed just nine months after its launch (check my newsletter and podcast for details). Especially in the podcast episode with Borut Hrobat, we spoke about the challenges of creating an actual 'embedded' experience. What do you think about the announcement, Shaul David Dr. Mikko Riikkinen Adrian Klee William Lorenz Paul Staples Borut Hrobat Efi Pylarinou Meaghan Johnson Dr. Manuel Thomet André Renfer and others? Link to the announcement in the comment section --- PS: I will feature this story in depth in my newsletter next week. Make sure to subscribe to not miss any insights.

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The service value chain of corporate banks consists of many elements that together add up to the aggregated experience of corporate customers. Some service elements are consistently scored as HIGHLY IMPORTANT, while others are scored less important by Corporate customers. Congratulations to Nordea, Danske Bank and SEB for performing best on 3 of the highly important service elements: 1. The Cash Manager is competent in his/her field Best performing bank: Nordea 🏆 2. System up time and recovery time of system failures meet our expectations Best performing bank: SEB 🏆 3. The KYC processes are well coordinated across the banks organization Best performing bank: Danske Bank 🏆 CXFacts is unique, global, and brings new value to both banks and corporate customers. You are more than welcome to contact us to talk about how CXFacts may add value to you. The data used in this post is based on data from 2024 from corporate respondents from more than 10 countries on their banking business with a range of global and Nordic banks. #corporatebanking #corporatetreasury #csat #cx #KYC #performancegaps #bestinclass

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Check out the latest insights into the industry's future and the valuable contributions W5 are making!

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As an HR person I like to follow various research and statistics on changes in economy, society, labor market, longevity and more, and see what trends I have to prepare for when it comes to #futureofwork This report is very interesting for person like me, to see how my home country, Iceland, is doing in comparison to other European countries. Some pleasantly surprising and not so pleasant numbers in the report... This report is also very interesting for me as the Head of HR at #EFTA, to see various numbers from the countries we operate in and the countries we most hire talent from. Numbers like graduates from various fields of study, employment rate, gender pay gap, cost of living, living conditions, digital usage, investment in research and development and more. Therefore I share this brand new report from #Eurostat and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. #HRdataanalytics #futuretrends

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Agile Leadership: Leading Through Change In today’s fast-paced world, agile leadership is about empowering teams to adapt, grow, and deliver value even when things change. At SEB, I focus on building trust, encouraging self-driven decisions, and fostering open communication. Instead of rigid plans, we prioritize continuous improvement and responsiveness to feedback. Agile leadership is a journey that challenges us to stay flexible and evolve together as a team. How do you incorporate agility into your leadership? #AgileLeadership #TeamEmpowerment #Adaptability #ContinuousImprovement #Collaboration

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Ever been in a room full of banking CEOs sharing views on the future of the industry? If not, you can be - on November 28th at the Nordic Banking Forum, where top decision-makers from leading banks and cutting-edge fintechs come together. What’s on the table : 🌐 Geopolitics & Security: How do the shifting global forces affect business? Hear from the brightest minds in strategy and risk. 📊Macroeconomics & Capital Markets: Leading economists on where Europe is heading, and the smart moves to make in uncertain times. ♻️ Sustainability & Banking: CEOs reveal how they will turn #ESG investments into competitive advantages. 💡Challengers & Gamechangers: Meet the pioneers who are driving instant payments, AI-driven banking, and the next wave of digital transformation. 💼 New Business Models: Hear how senior leaders are addressing embedded finance, open banking, and the future of financial services. 🗓️ Event Schedule: 9:00 - 16:30: Keynotes, deep dives, and valuable networking 16:30 - 19:00: After-work mingle & after-party 🎉 📍 Nordic Banking Forum | Helsinki 🔗 NordicBankingForum.com 🚨Early Bird deal ends in 3 days! 🔋Partners spots are available! #NordicBankingForum #Fintech #HelsinkiFinTech #DigitalPayments #DigitalBanking

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Vipps Mobile Pay, banking, and DeepTech in Finland We're expanding our knowledge about fintech in the Nordics. Let's explore #Finland in our new country profile: ▪️ The #banking sector is dominated by four major institutions: OP Financial Group, Nordea, Municipality Finance (MuniFin), and Danske Bank ▪️ Finland boasts 5 #fintech unicorns: Supercell, HMD Global, Aiven, RELEX, and Oura ▪️ Finland's #startup landscape is shifting notably towards deep technology sectors. The ecosystem features an estimated 4,000 startups and 11 #unicorns, showcasing a blend of entrepreneurial dynamism and global competitiveness ▪️ Vipps Mobile Pay, a collaboration between MobilePay, Vipps, and Pivo, aims to provide a unified digital wallet solution for the Nordic region Want to dive deeper? 🇫🇮 Finland – WTM country profile: https://lnkd.in/dfANa4Kg 👉 Find more FREE fintech reports here: https://lnkd.in/dpPtb_hZ

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Join me on 7th August for a fireside chat with Naimul Abd at Connect Sverige Region Öst where we talk about the Estonian startup and innovation ecosystems, Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) and its role in mobilizing early-stage investment in the region, and my advice to upcoming investors and startup founders in the region. Registration link in the comments.

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The day before yesterday, I needed some help from Nordea Bank. I contacted customer service via their mobile app. A few minutes later—problem solved. Awesome! 🎉 Then, a ping… an SMS asking if I had received the help I needed. I replied "yes." Ping… Another SMS. This time asking whether I would recommend Nordea to friends, family, and colleagues. Oh… the dreaded NPS. 😬 I gave Nordea a 10, fully aware of what I was doing. Then came the follow-up question: why was I so happy? 🤔 The classic NPS setup. This experience reminded me why NPS can be great. The Nordea customer service team got immediate response as to how well they had managed to meet my expectations🌟. However, while I was feeling positive, the experience also reminded me why I sometimes detest the NPS. 😅 Why is NPS great? It’s a simple, effective way to measure customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction immediately after an interaction. ✅ It’s perfect for gauging how well customer service teams meet—or exceed—customer expectations. 🚀 Why can NPS be terrible? It’s overused. 🚨 In some businesses, it’s the only research being conducted, even in situations where it shouldn’t be. In my view: - NPS is not suited to measure the value of your brand. 🏷️ - NPS is not a loyalty metric. 💔 - NPS scores should not be shared without the context of and willingness to dig into consumer feedback. - NPS should be understood properly by those who decided to spend money on tracking it. And they should care about what it shows. If they do not care, no one cares. And that means a bucket of wasted money. - NPS should not be used in isolation from direct customer interactions. 🔗 - NPS should not be used to understand consumer engagement across markets (it’s well-known that consumers in different markets respond differently in quantitative consumer research). 🌍 And last but not least, don’t rely on NPS as your only measure of how well you satisfy consumers for your executive or management reports. 📊 Consumer satisfaction and brand engagement are far more complex than a single recent interaction. NPS scores should never be used in isolation of other ways to understand consumers. 🤝 #consumerresearch #NPS #consumersatisfaction

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We opened the stage with Ola Sundell taking the lead with: "How many personal #bank accounts do you have at different banks?" Can you guess the average? Glad to have our founders on stage including Janne Salminen sharing the Helsinki Fintech Farm's vision! #NordicFintechSummit #HelsinkiFintech #DigitalBanking #DigitalPayments

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Day1 Arctic15 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Nordea Startup & Growth strongly present today and tomorrow! Come a ping us👌 Let’s talk about non dilutive funding and deal flow.

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What if there was a bank that gave out free loans? I mean, no interest rate and no need to pay the bank back? Wouldn't that be great!? Even if you are not a finance expert, you would know this is in no way a possible or sustainable business model...in fact, it is completely absurd. The bank would probably collapse in a matter of seconds. However, this is the current operating model for our world's largest bank–the natural environment. Over half of the world's economy is directly reliant upon natural resources and the natural resources are quickly becoming depleted. If systemic change does not happen soon, the world's largest bank will soon collapse. The positive thing is, all the knowledge to get started on a better path is already in existence. We understand the dangers of business-as-usual. We know that regenerative business models are the key for future stability. We have acknowledged that overproduction and overconsumption must be addressed. We have plenty of trained experts who are eager to take environmental sustainability to the needed level. These are just some of the thoughts and realizations that popped into my head while I listened to the recording of the WWF Finland webinar on the role of the financial sector in combating deforestation held last month. Maija Kaukonen, Jussi Nikula and Quynh Le Vo held an extremely interesting discussion on the state of forests and biodiversity globally and the financial sector's line of influence in these matters. You can also view it here (unfortunately in Finnish only): https://lnkd.in/dFcJK2sS #biodiveristy #deforestation #sustainability #sustainablefinance #sustainablefuture #financinggreen

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Building a healthy company culture is vital to business success. It goes way beyond the 'nice to haves' in a workplace, aligning and integrating values is essential when building, developing or transforming your culture to increase engagement, performance, productivity, and ultimately tangible results! Im looking forward to this webinar with Holly Fenton at Seven Levels, please sign up below to join.

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For quite a while now I have not only been CPCO in Klar but also headed our internal Customer Support department and ensured much more commercial profiles. The best thing that happened in that department is - without a doubt - hiring Line Vedø Læssøe! But yesterday we sent her on Maternity leave with a nice reception 👶🍼👩‍🍼 AND A BIG PROMOTION 💥 At the reception, I announced that we have decided to promote Line as Head of Customer Support. A well-deserved title, she can bring with her on her leave and bring back again in January 2025. Sending women on maternity leave with no promotion even though they deserve it is purely wrong! Acknowledging amazing results should never wait until AFTER maternity leave. (I guess you agree Frederikke Antonie Schmidt 😘) Let's have a look at (some) of Line's smashing results: 👏 Boosted our TrustPilot rating from 4.3 to 4.4, prioritizing responses to every review within 24 hours - she did what no one else could in Klar. In 2021 and 2022 it was even lower! 👏 Gave our claims process a complete makeover, minimizing waste, automating answers and streamlining operations - so far huge success 👏 Started tracking our Customer Service performance with KPIs to stay on top of our game. 👏 Trimmed down our claims costs by over 15% (so far - can't wait to see how the 2024 result will be) Line Vedø Læssøe you ROCK 🤩🤘🎸 we will miss you and cannot wait to greet you back in January 2025. To take over Customer Support, while Line is doing other, super important things ofcourse, we have hired Kristín Laura Vestergaard to run the show. WELCOME Kristín 👋👋

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What makes a good B2B customer event? 🤔 Too often, events can be overly formal, lacking energy, and feel a bit dull. At Vipps MobilePay, we set out to do something different - an event that felt more like a gathering of friends, where honest feedback and lively discussions were at the forefront, not just another sales pitch 📢 Last week, we wrapped up this year’s Pay&Play events in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Aarhus, and here’s what we've done: 🌟Bring customers "home": Hosting events at our offices made the experience more personal and fostered a true sense of collaboration.  🌟Encourage genuine dialogue: We invited partners to the stage to share both the positives and areas for improvement in our products—transparency builds trust! 🌟Create a "wow moment": Breaking the Nordic stiffness with a surprise (like last year’s Balkan band that got everyone dancing) makes a huge difference.  🌟Keep it intimate: Smaller sessions allowed for meaningful discussions instead of just one-way keynotes. 🌟Leverage internal talent: Engaging product managers and experts added credibility and depth to every discussion. 🌟Make space for technical talk: Our API sessions were the most popular, proving that customers value deep dives into the technical aspects.  🌟Involve the whole team: All colleagues at Vipps MobilePay were invited to participate, which created a sense of ownership and strengthens our customer-centric culture.

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