Speaking with Swedbank’s Information Security Manager, Eric Törnqvist

I recently had the opportunity to talk with the Information Security Manager at Swedbank, Eric Törnqvist. During our conversation we discussed a number of things including his career to date, co-founding his company Mildra and his predictions for the future of his industry. 

Eric is currently the Information Security Manager of Group Risk at Swedbank. However, he also has a background in Industrial management and engineering at KTH as well as two years at PwC’s Cyber Security division and half a year in Tink’s security team. 

Since 1820 Swedbank has been the bank for many households and businesses. They are a modern financial services platform focused on customer satisfaction with the goal to encourage people to save for a better future and with the aim to help people, businesses and society to grow by promoting a healthy and sustainable economy. 

During our interview, we talk about the events and moments in Eric’s career that have inspired him. Eric explains how working with a team of “proper hackers” on penetration testing projects was thrilling and helped to push him further in his career. As well as this, Eric describes working on writing policies and providing mentoring for small Swedish companies in order to help them implement security strategies. 

Eric discusses the Swedbank values of “open, simple and caring” and how this fits in well with his leadership style and views on company culture. He says that he lives by the belief that you should never ask a coworker to do something that you would not be prepared to do yourself. Eric explains how important company culture is and how easily it can be destroyed, reiterating that having a strong, happy team who communicate well is key to success.

We also discuss the security journey that Swedbank has been on since before Eric joined and the way in which they are dedicated to constantly bettering their security standards. Eric explains how they are working on making sure that their management strategies are understandable and putting effective communication in the forefront.

To hear the full interview with Eric click the link below.