Sami Rajala has been appointed Partner at KPMG as of October. Sami will be responsible for KPMG's services related to financial services business and technology transformation. Sami has strong expertise in the banking and insurance business, bank operational activities, and the delivery of system transformations through his development lead roles and Senior Vice President role where he was responsible for OP Financial Group’s development steering, development methodologies, process development and automation. He also has strong experience in consulting while working as CEO of OP & Accenture's joint venture. In addition, Sami has worked in various FS sector-related sales and client positions at Accenture.
— I look forward to working with all new talented colleagues, clients and strategic partners. It is a great honor for me to work with global and local KPMG people to help our current and future clients to achieve their business goals, Sami Rajala says.
Focus on business-driven transformations
Sami strengthens KPMG's financial service team in the banking and insurance sectors and will focus on business-driven transformations like core processes and system developments. The pressure of the transformation of the financial industry is constantly increasing.
— In the financial industry, we no longer talk about big trends, but change is continuous and fast, and customers expect changes to happen immediately. The old core systems no longer support this constant and rapid change, so even if some systems still have a life cycle, improving the customer experience guides companies to innovate and renew at all levels, Sami says.
Sami sees that more and more companies are focusing on innovation as many financial institutions re-deploy savings from efficiency initiatives and strategic cost programs into investments — including in technology. In addition, companies are considering alternative operating models and evaluating emerging technologies to achieve many benefits.
— Embracing a digital-first approach, sustainability initiatives and radically renewed processes for customer and employee experiences will allow them to stay relevant and competitive in this ever-changing market.
At KPMG, Sami will also focus on developing alliances and partnerships related to technology solutions to enable our clients an upscale end-to-end service offering.
— Focusing on end-to-end business processes as an approach expands opportunity from single system renewals to major business improvements. And using a strong partner network to find the best possible skills for different roles brings the best potential value for our clients, Sami says.