GRIP North – Issue 1

Dear Reader,

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2026, the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, delivered a thought-provoking speech about the current state of the world, referencing the Finnish approach to dealing with adversity, which translates to “we have to sit down, take the world as it is and make the best out of it, in a dignified manner”.

This mix of pragmatism, accountability, and a forward-looking approach in addressing the state of the world – or financial regulation – is not unfamiliar to those working in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Our first issue of GRIP North marks the start of a standing dialogue with the compliance community in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.

Compliance professionals here are grappling with an environment that is changing faster than ever before. Our cover feature looks at some of these changes in what we describe as Financial Services Regulation 2.0. In the article, a new way of EU rulemaking is explored alongside efforts at regulatory simplification, new challenges such as AI and sustainability, and regulatory priorities across US, Canada, UK, and UAE. For practitioners, this means not only interpreting rules but understanding the framework that they are built on and the impact on their respective national realities.

Several articles make the connection between EU laws and their national implementation – we examine a few detailed aspects of the Digital Omnibus, the EU Data Act, and the new Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation proposal. Our conversation with the Danish FSA gives us a glimpse of the first ESRS-aligned sustainability reports in the Danish financial sector.

Innovation remains a central theme in the regional markets. Our look at the Baltic fintech ecosystem attempts to uncover the secret behind the region’s fintech appeal. Meanwhile, collaborative efforts in cybersecurity and AI are exemplified by the Nordic Financial CERT and New Nordics AI initiative.

But there is another thread running through many of the stories: trust. The Nordic and Baltic countries are often described as high-trust societies, with strong commitment to transparency and accountability. Here, trust serves as infrastructure. Our interview with Michaela Ahlberg, a seasoned ethics and compliance professional, demonstrates exactly that – beyond simply following rules, compliance is about creating environments where people are empowered – and expected – to make good decisions. In a fast-paced environment, that foundation is what makes the difference between good and bad outcomes, both in compliance specifically and business generally.

We hope that the perspectives in here contribute to the ongoing conversations shaping the regional compliance landscape – and we look forward to continuing that exchange in subsequent editions.

Vasilka Lalevska

Senior Reporter

The Nordic – Baltic Compliance Intelligence Round-Up

Articles