‘We are here to stay’: Swedish banking platform firm Vilja announces new Leeds office

The firm said its decision to establish an office in the UK is the next step of its expansion plan, which recently saw it partner with UK-based mortgage partner Mast.

Fredrik Ulvenholm, CEO of Vilja, said: “We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new office in the UK. This expansion underscores our dedication to serving our current and new UK clients more effectively, working with our partners and supporting our continued growth trajectory.

“The UK is the financial hub in the world and we see tremendous opportunities for us to help banks and financial institutions with their digital transformation.”

The news follows Vilja’s announcement last month that It would partner with mortgage origination partner Mast in a bid to to “transform” the mortgage market for building societies in the UK

Vilja said the partnership would also accelerate its expansion into the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will help building societies streamline operations, improve efficiency, and foster innovation across their channels.

Mr Ulvenholm added: “We are thrilled to partner with Mast, as we share the same mindset, and our solutions complement each other perfectly.

"As the leading new-school vendor in the Nordics, we believe now is the right time to enter the UK market, and we are here to stay.”

Vilja initially launched in 2007 as LeanDev, bringing its cloud-based banking system to market. The company then changed its name to Vilja in May of 2020.

Late last year, Vilja also announced that it had continued its international expansion by introducing deposit services in Poland

As of November 28, the regulated credit market company, Hoist Finance, launched a savings offering to the general public in Poland under the HoistSpar brand, supported by Vilja Deposit.

This was followed by the introduction of deposit services in Euro for the Netherlands in March of this year, in addition to the service being available in Germany.

The news of Vilja’s move into Leeds comes as the city continues to see positive growth in its office take-up.

Figures released in November last year by the Leeds Office Agents Forum showed that occupier activity across Leeds has risen over seven per cent on the same time the year prior.

Occupier activity reached 209,746 sq ft of take-up in the third quarter of 2023, with take-up at the nine month mark reaching 724,853 sq ft, a 7.7 per cent rise.

Businesses signed for 136,915 sq ft of city centre office space in the third quarter, on a par with the take-up recorded in the same quarter the year prior

Figures released by Savills in January also showed that Leeds has seen its highest full-year office take-up since 2019.