SEBx combines incumbent strength with fintech agility

It is difficult for an incumbent bank to disrupt itself, but the exponential change in technology and customer expectations seen today requires more than incremental renovation, the head of SEB’s innovation platform, Christoffer Malmer, tells Joy Macknight.

by Joy Macknight

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With disruption picking up pace in the banking industry, one of SEB’s responses was to launch an innovation platform, dubbed SEBx, in mid-2018. The 160-year-old Swedish institution wanted to experiment around building a bank from scratch, without the hindrance of legacy technology, processes and structures.

“It was not a lack of willingness within the bank to lean into digital transformation, but rather restrictions from an execution standpoint. We wanted to unleash that willingness to experiment and explore what could be possible in a separate setting,” says Christoffer Malmer, head of SEBx.

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Joy Macknight

Joy Macknight is the editor of The Banker. She joined the publication in 2015 as transaction banking and technology editor. Previously, she was features editor at Profit & Loss, editorial director at Treasury Today and editor at gtnews. She also worked as a staff writer on Banking Technology and IBM Computer Today, as well as a freelancer on Computer Weekly. She has a BSc from the University of Victoria, Canada.