Trailmaker customer: Sampo Group creates new asset management unit with 24 billion euros in assets

Mandatum Asset Management is a newly formed company that has been fully operational since September 2021. The company was created by internally reorganising Sampo Group’s asset management functions into one entity. Trailmaker helped ensure a common view of strategy execution after the reorganisation.

Mandatum Asset Management (MAM) combines the asset management expertise of Mandatum and Sampo Group. It provides fund management services to its clients and Mandatum Life's clients, and manages Sampo’s investment assets. MAM manages around 24 billion euros in assets and employs more than 120 investment experts.

MAM aims to become the leading Nordic speciality asset management company, offering services to Nordic and European institutional and other professional investors.

“Mandatum Asset Management was formed by combining all of Sampo Group’s asset management functions,” says Lauri Vaittinen, CEO of Mandatum Asset Management. “Nowadays we manage both Sampo Group’s balance sheet assets and our clients’ assets. Our number one priority is to get as good investment results as possible.”

According to Vaittinen, creating a mutual understanding was essential in combining the two organisations. “In the management team we have people with investment-side thinking and the others are more sort of sales-oriented professionals.” On top of that, he says, “employee numbers have increased by some 30 per cent.”  

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Trailmaker helps bring about a real common view

To counter the challenge of getting a new management team properly aligned after the reorganisation and allowing the company to rapidly grow, MAM turned to the Trailmaker. One of the key goals of the cooperation, says Vaittinen, was to arrive at a common view, so everyone understood exactly their own roles and responsibilities. “We avoided a situation where people were dealing with high-level words that no one understood,” he says.

The Trailmaker process made it possible to find a common view of executing the strategy and standardised how Mandatum Asset Management managed strategic milestones, says Vaittinen.

“Strategy execution at its best comprises set deadlines that are also measurable. Putting everything in a simplistic way in a digital format was one of the best features of the Trailmaker process. I think it’s very positive to have this standardised and transparent approach to strategy execution and it probably speeded up the process too.”

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TRAILMAKER is a concept for faster strategy execution:

• Concrete common view and commitment

• Identified capability needs

• Visibility