Mathias Söderholm has been the Head of IT at RegTech since 2021 and is happy to have found a place where he can use his extensive IT skills – and feel at home. After discussions with RegTech’s founders, Mathias was ready to move from e-commerce to the finance industry. “I realized that Reg Tech has real growth potential, and that I could contribute to that development with my experience.”
During 15 years in the field of IT, Mathias has had many different roles in companies specializing in e-commerce solutions. He has acquired valuable insight into different work cultures and corporate hierarchies after spending several years working as a Developer and Solution Architect in a software and service company, a couple of years as a Technical Project Manager in the start-up world, and more recently as the Head of Digital & E-commerce in a family-owned business. All this experience has made him appreciate the easy approach and low hierarchy at RegTech even more.
“Our organisation is small enough and our professionals have a great mix of different skillsets that complement and support each other. This allows our internal communication to remain open which in turn makes decision-making efficient. This means we can initiate new projects quicker and work in a flexible way.”
Mathias is very satisfied with RegTech’s role in its owner’s, the Svea Bank’s, organisation.
“We aren’t working as rivals to Svea’s own IT departments. Instead, we cooperate with Svea’s various business segments to develop organisation-wide solutions and applications that will make life easier for Svea and its clients both in Finland and Sweden. Nevertheless, we still have a lot of say in how we work and can run our operations fairly independently.”
Clear communication is key
As the Head of IT at RegTech, Mathias’ part in all of this is twofold. He works with both Svea’s managers as well as his co-workers at RegTech. Hence, it is not a surprise that he sees versatility as one of the biggest advantages with his work.
“It’s my job to ensure that nothing blocks our developers’ creative work. I listen to their needs and offer my technical assistance if needed. Equally, an essential part of my work is about strengthening and maintaining transparent relations with Svea through clear communication, no matter how complicated the technical details are.”
Both RegTech’s approach and Mathias’ determination have already led to a consolidation of trust.
“Although we are a small part of a big corporation, we have gained their trust: our projects progress and the communication works well. We are like this little icebreaker between Svea in Finland and Svea in Sweden”, Mathias says with a smile.
Fascinated by creative problem-solving
The work at RegTech is also an inspiring personal challenge for the former e-commerce developer.
“In the finance sector, we must stick to proven and trusted technologies, so you can’t always just pick and choose among the latest technology trends in the same way as in other fields of technology. But being innovative and creative doesn’t necessarily require top modern technology. The challenge of discovering how far we can push the boundaries and how to apply suitable e-commerce background ideas to the financial sector really fascinates me”, Mathias says. Also, he feels that he has a lot to give in the future when it comes to further development of RegTech’s own product, the interactive invoice.
Relaxed atmosphere brings people together
Having several irons in the fire at RegTech does not exclude a good work-life balance. Being a father of two children, Ester 6 and Wilmer 8 Mathias enjoys family life in his spare time. The family home is located in the centre of Vaasa, which has its benefits. When Mathias needs to take time for himself, he goes for a run along the Vaasa shoreline. It is also practical to have only a ten minute-walk to RegTech’s office. Most workdays, Mathias heads for the office because he enjoys the relaxed atmosphere there, where the ceilings are high and the time for creativity and learning is prioritised over stress and haste.
“During the pandemic, I spent six months in a row working remotely from home, and I really missed meeting my co-workers. We are all different, and we have different professional, cultural and personal backgrounds, but our sense of humour brings us together. No matter what language we speak, being available for a chat or support is important too.
In his work, Mathias is also actively involved in recruiting new professionals to RegTech’s growing teams in Vaasa.
“In our recruitment processes, we never blindly choose people solely on their technical skills without also paying attention to their personality. Here, everybody has the right to choose their own working methods and be themselves.”
