MuniFin’s Senior Legal Counsel Hannu-Pekka Ylimommo and Senior Treasury Manager Lauri Rasi work closely together on the complex regulation of the financial sector. Both feel that MuniFin’s important role in society gives purpose to the work they do.
Hannu-Pekka Ylimommo (LL.M.) is a lawyer at MuniFin. His career path into the finance sector has not been a typical one. Before venturing into law, Ylimommo had studied journalism and worked as a reporter.
“As a journalist, I got tired of always being the person who was asking other people their views, opinions and comments. I started thinking about what I personally wanted to specialise in. That’s how I ended up studying law,” he says. This evolving career path first led him to Helsinki and eventually to MuniFin in 2015.
Lauri Rasi, M.Sc. (Econ.), has also built a long, almost 20-year career at MuniFin. An interest in economics from a young age led him to study finance. Rasi began his MuniFin career in Risk Management, later moving over to Treasury.
As the years have brought seniority and professional experience, both have seen their roles evolve and their responsibilities grow within the company. Long careers are common at MuniFin: the average length of employment is seven years.
Regulation, contracts and joint projects
Rasi has seen up close how MuniFin has grown and developed with the financial markets over the years. Financial crises have brought increased regulation, changed the nature of the work, and raised the bar. Because of its systemic significance, MuniFin came under the direct supervision of the European Central Bank in 2016, and supervisory requirements have grown considerably over the years since.
Rasi begins his mornings with a check on what has happened in the world and in the markets overnight – and whether any of it demands action from a liquidity or market risk perspective.
“My role revolves around managing our liquidity. I need to be on top of our liquidity position at all times and be aware of how market developments might affect it. The most interesting aspect of the job is precisely the fact that the markets are constantly changing, and no two days are alike,” he describes.
In his role, Ylimommo takes part in funding-related contract negotiations, interprets regulation, and offers his view on the kinds of projects MuniFin can finance. In addition, he serves as the secretary for the company’s Executive Management Team, attending its weekly meetings. Beyond these fixed responsibilities, his work is full of variation: a given day might involve collaborating with the business team, commenting on and reviewing contracts, or keeping track of the regulatory landscape.
Both Ylimommo and Rasi work closely with each other as well as with experts from other units. Their most recent major joint effort has been the EMIR 3.0 project, linked to the latest significant reform of EMIR (the European Market Infrastructure Regulation). In practice, the collaboration involves interpreting regulatory texts and assessing how the reform affects MuniFin’s operations.
“At first glance, a piece of regulation may seem like it concerns just a single unit, but in reality, its impact often extends widely across the organisation. By working together, we find solutions that work both from a regulatory perspective and in practice,” Rasi explains.
In terms of headcount, MuniFin is a fairly small company compared with many other players in the financial sector. That also makes internal collaboration straightforward: when you know all your colleagues, it’s easy to drop by someone’s desk for a chat.
The field is demanding, but the workplace has a human touch
What originally drew Rasi to MuniFin was the company’s position at the intersection of finance and social purposes. When he joined the company’s Risk Management team, he did not yet fully grasp how broad and fascinating his MuniFin career would turn out to be, but that has become clear over the years.
Even with the demanding tasks and responsibilities, the pace is reasonable: at the end of the working day, both experts still have energy for life outside the office. In his free time, Ylimommo plays the piano and keyboards in a band. Rasi keeps himself busy with various little projects at his summer cottage. He also likes to commute by bike: the physical exercise of cycling home after work is a good way of taking his mind off professional matters and shifting into family time.
Both find a lot of meaning in their work at MuniFin.
“Mentally, this is an easy place to work. Here you never have to worry about a customer’s project being unethical or in a grey area. At MuniFin, you feel confident that every project contributes to the good of society,” Ylimommo reflects.
Both also feel their work at MuniFin gives them a good bird’s-eye view of how a credit institution works and what mechanisms affect its operations – an overview that would be harder to gain at a large bank.
“Working in a small team, people get to take on broad roles and varied responsibilities. And all the while you know you get to do something that makes a difference to society,” Rasi sums up.
Image credit: Annukka Pakarinen