Jūratė Stonienė
Area Service Owner and Team manager at SEB
15 Years in Tech at SEB:
A career of change, innovation, and sustainability
Technology in banking is constantly evolving, but some people remain a steady anchor amid the whirlwind of change. Jūratė has been working at SEB for nearly 16 years and leads a team responsible for managing the bank’s IT projects, signing contracts with external IT companies, and planning and implementing financial goals related to IT infrastructure.
In this interview, she shares her career journey, talks about how technology is related to sustainability, what challenges arise when working in a large organization, and why innovation is a crucial part of a successful bank.
What motivates you to stay in the same organization for so many years?
There are two main reasons. First – the managers. I’ve been very lucky: throughout my career at SEB, I’ve met great managers who always listened to my aspirations, supported change, and created opportunities for growth. Over the years, I’ve changed positions five times, but I’ve always stayed within the Technology division. The second reason – the people. The SEB community is very friendly and supportive. When you feel trusted and backed, work becomes enjoyable. Moreover, SEB fosters a culture of growth and learning – here, it’s natural to want to improve, change roles, and take on new challenges.
Were you always interested in technology?
When I started working with contracts in the Technology department, I didn’t know much about technology itself – I learned everything here, working with colleagues. Since I graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, I had a theoretical foundation, but the practical knowledge came through work. SEB always offers many learning opportunities, and people are willing to help, so transitioning into the IT world wasn’t difficult.
What does your daily work look like?
Together with the team, we ensure that the bank’s technology systems run smoothly, we implement new systems, and ensure that external partners meet all security and regulatory requirements. Our goal is to connect various applications into a unified and efficiently functioning ecosystem. Banking activities are strictly regulated by numerous legal norms, so complying with these requirements is part of our daily work.
What are the biggest challenges you face?
The biggest challenge is lengthy processes. To implement a new product or solution, many checks must be passed to ensure security. This takes time but allows us to be confident that the solutions are reliable and stable. The complexity of a large organization is also challenging – when changing one part, it’s important to understand how it connects to others. We can’t simply discard a certain technology if it’s critical to other processes.
How do you incorporate innovation into your work?
Today, innovation is an integral part of business. We aim to offer our clients fast, convenient, and modern solutions, so we must choose advanced technologies and partners ourselves. Innovation also means being able to abandon outdated solutions. To ensure successful changes, we invest in strategic planning and training – both within the team and across the organization.
What innovative technology solution at SEB has contributed significantly to sustainability?
One of the most important initiatives is our strategy to migrate to the cloud. We are undertaking a long and complex journey that will enable more efficient use of data and access to new innovative solutions. It will also help reduce our data centers. Of course, even when working with external partners, we adhere to strict banking security requirements.
How does technology contribute to sustainability?
We’ve aimed to centralize resources to reduce excessive energy and material consumption. When selecting servers and partners, we assess their efficiency, energy consumption, and approach to sustainability. We also have a dedicated person who ensures that suppliers follow sustainability principles or at least have clear plans in this direction.
What’s coming next in the field of technology?
The biggest breakthroughs are happening in artificial intelligence – especially in data analysis and processing. There’s also growing discussion about applying blockchain technology to various banking processes.
