We facilitate the customer’s journey forward

For Jonas Ghebremeskel, a career in finance was never the obvious choice. For several years he played professional basketball in Sweden, the US, and Italy, before switching career paths to work with various social issues. However, a little over a year ago, he chose to apply for a job at SEB.

Through his basketball career, Jonas received an athletic scholarship in the US, where he studied Business Administration. After that, he decided to take a different path and began working with young adults in need of support when leaving addiction and criminality. Although he describes the work as incredibly rewarding, after ten years in the same field, Jonas wanted to return to what he had previously studied. That’s when he decided to apply to SEB. Here, he works as a Loan Officer at Structured Loan Services (SLS) within Business Services. 

What attracted you to SEB? 

– Professionally, I didn’t have much experience in the banking world, so I found it exciting to try something completely new. As SEB is a major corporate bank, I also found it intriguing to work with large clients, contracts and sums. Learning more about how these deals are put together was what really attracted me to SEB. 

The role of a Loan Officer 

The team that Jonas works in, SLS, provides financial solutions for various companies. More specifically, they work with structured credits and large corporate loans that often involve several banks, where SEB acts as the agent bank. To facilitate this, the team has daily communication with both the business side, customers, stakeholders, and other financial parties. 

– As a Loan Officer, I am responsible for administering these complex deals for large corporate clients, which includes analysing credit agreements and ensuring that loans are disbursed correctly, Jonas says. 

What is the most challenging part of the role? 

– We at Business Services play an important part in the processes that enable the customer's journey forward, and therefore administer a large part of the bank's revenues. In that way, we truly are at the centre of events, which sometimes means that you have hectic days with customer contact in all different directions. But that’s also what makes the job so enjoyable – having contact with multiple parties all at once. That’s when you clearly feel how the work you do contributes to something larger. 

Why should one work within Business Services? 

– The best thing about working within Business Services is how much knowledge you gain. I’ve been at SEB for just over a year, but I am still learning new things constantly, gaining more insight every day. That makes the job feel just as enjoyable now as when I first started. Even my colleagues who have worked within Business Services for over ten years say the same thing – you never stop learning. And that really says something about what it’s like to work here.