Everybody needs a friend—even banks! You won’t find a friendlier person than Charlotte Gunnarsson, our new Head of Bank Relations. With over 15 years of experience working in the banking sector, a keen eye for maintaining relations, and a great sense of (cheesy) humour, the role fits her like a glove. With Charlotte at Finshark, we can invest more time in maintaining and creating dialogues and collaborations with banks all over Europe.

Welcome to Finshark Charlotte! In your own words, tell us about your role at Finshark.
I am the Head of Bank Relations. I keep myself busy by building and maintaining relationships with some of our most important partners – banks!

Having friendly partners is always lovely, but why are banks particularly important to Finshark?
We need banks to operate. In order for our product to function, we need bank accounts to process transactions.

What are you currently working on? Anything exciting?
I am looking into how we can improve our current setup with our banks and plan for how to expand and build our network to cater for future needs.

In the spirit of Albert Einstein, what if you were to explain simply what you do to a 5-year-old? What would you say?
I make friends with brilliant and interesting people and get to ask them many questions.

Hey, that sounds just like my job! You’re brilliant and interesting, and I have another question for you. You joined Finshark this summer, but what were you doing before?
I worked in the banking space for quite some years before I switched to fintech. Now, I get the best of both worlds!

How do you feel about working in fintech? Is it as exciting as they say?

It is super exciting and very fast-paced! It is an ever-changing environment where we get to improve and shape the future of payments.

Am I terribly judgmental if I assume the banking world is not as fast paced or particularly changing?

I don’t want to swear in church but let me put it like this – banks are very stable.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in bank relations?
I would probably start a kennel – I absolutely love dogs!

You’re a dog person, huh? Tell more us about yourself!

I live in Stockholm with my partner, Tom, and our little sausage dog, Pölsen. We recently bought a house, so when we’re not busy renovating, painting and decorating, we are enjoying the beautiful surroundings and taking long walks by the water!

Pölsen? You named your dog… hot dog? Now, THAT is brilliant! Any cute dog photos for our readers?

Let me put it this way – I have around 10,000 photos on my phone, and about 9,999 of them are on Pölsen!

You said you are based in Stockholm, which is far from most colleagues in Lund and Sarajevo. Do you have any tips for people working remotely?
Make sure to leave room for friendly chats and jokes in meetings, not only business meetings. And use the chat function in the same way. There is always time for a cheese joke or two! I’m just joking. People who make cheese puns belong in Emmental institutions.

Ooooh, I see what you did there! You’re not just brilliant… You’re brie-lliant! What do you like to do when you’re not busy with cheesy jokes or building the future of finance?
I love to travel and explore the world, with a main focus on food! I enjoy long dinners with friends. Most importantly, I spend tons of time with Pölsen and Tom!

You can call yourself lucky if you’re currently working at a bank because you might get to work with Charlotte! We sure feel lucky, even if we need to endure one or two cheese jokes.

Talk to you later. I gouda go!

Anyway… Take care, I swiss you the best.