Life at MORS Software: Professionally Fulfilling and Personally Enjoyable

I have a deep fascination with data. For me, data holds the key to a better understanding of almost everything. I’ve been lucky to indulge my passion for data and data analytics in almost all of my professional roles since graduating in 2000. I have an educational background in Applied Mathematics, and I am analytical by nature. This combination has allowed me to exercise my passion to better understand business challenges and to develop innovative solutions in the banking industry, the sector I’ve called ‘home’ for the last 21 years.

I started my career at Evli Bank, first as a Risk Analyst and then as a Quantitative Analyst, finally spending my last 4 years at Evli Bank as a Portfolio Manager in the Fixed Income Investment Management Team. Those 7 years gave me an incredible insight into how banks work, and the importance of data analytics in understanding risk and optimizing business performance. I was hooked.

In 2007 I took a position at Danske Bank, where I spent 5 years on the front line, supporting the sales of structured products with complex risk modelling and quantitative methods, both internally and in an outward facing role as an advisor to corporate customers. This provided me with an opportunity to indulge another passion, working with people. At Danske, not only did I further my understanding of complex financial instruments, but I learned to look at banking from the customer’s perspective. Seeing the world from your customer’s point of view is one of the most important assets in any professional context.

In 2013, pooling everything I’d learnt so far, I took up the position of Treasury Manager at Ålandsbanken. This provided me with a tremendous opportunity to work across a number of different risk surfaces, and asset and liability management. My passion for data science and a firm understanding of the banking sector afforded me the opportunity to redevelop business processes in pursuit of Balance Sheet optimization.

While working at Ålandsbanken I met a software company called MORS Software. It struck me that their core business was everything I’d enjoyed in my career to date. They were passionate about data, analytics and developing solutions for their customers to better understand Risk, Asset and Liability Management, and Profitability. Their solutions spanned the whole business, from deal to disclosure, from Treasury Management through to Regulatory Reporting and all aspects in between. Not only that, but they were also working with many clients, and customer focus and satisfaction seemed to be at the heart of their business.

So, in 2019 I took my first step in the Computer Software industry, into the role of Senior Product Manager at MORS Software. A place where I could indulge all of my passions and leverage all my learning and experience so far. I was ‘home’!

MORS Software aligned perfectly with my world view on how banks should manage their performance. We look at the business of banking holistically. We believe that banks should consider all aspects of risk in a single system, not in siloes. We believe that all aspects of risk are interconnected, and that risk management is a fundamental part of balance sheet management and financial performance. We believe that all of this should be managed together as a whole, based on the same raw material, a single view of contract level data. Having the opportunity to work on evolving this technology is both professionally and personally extremely rewarding.

One of the things I like the most about being part of the MORS Software team, is that we genuinely practice what we preach. We are Finnish, after all! There is no ‘smoke and mirrors’ at MORS Software, not internally and not externally. We build our software by listening to our customers and we are very honest in our sales and marketing processes. Working with customers is something I enjoy very much, whether that’s existing clients or new prospects, such interaction is enjoyable but also essential in building the best solutions we can.

I feel empowered at MORS Software. We are a dedicated team and mostly with similar backgrounds. I have a great deal of autonomy in deciding what my working day looks like and there’s a strong element of mutual trust that we are all doing what we think we need to do in working towards our common goals. There’s no ‘org chart’ at MORS Software, but there is a huge amount of professional respect and teamwork. Of course, we have deadlines and targets and so on, and we achieve them with open and objective communication and by working together.

As you can imagine, working in such an environment breeds strong relationships and the interpersonal aspects of working at MORS Software are very rewarding. We have fun. We get on well. There’s a great atmosphere and we put value in taking time out together, especially during the last year when working conditions have been very different.

I’m looking forward to the future. I think we have a great team, a great product, and our business practices are the right ones needed for continued growth, success and perhaps most importantly, satisfied customers. I feel l have a voice, that I can contribute to defining how our business evolves. As the banking world faces ever increasing challenges, such as Climate Risk, the use of AI, and increased regulation, I think we are best placed to help banks better support their customer’s needs and those of their shareholders and stakeholders.