About

‘Our aim is always to be best within securities law in Norway’, states Øivind Amundsen, executive vice president – primary market and legal affairs at Oslo Børs, the Norwegian stock exchange. The legal department has taken a leading role in relation to outlining key company strategies, and they operate closely with management in order to ensure that the aims and objectives of the legal function align with that of the organisation. The team is credited for the introduction of “Merkur Market”, a marketplace catering for small and medium-sized enterprises. With the introduction of Merkur Market, legal took on additional responsibilities for rules, regulations, approvals from relevant authorities and agreements with market participants. Oslo Børs is one of the few stock exchanges in Europe to be in charge of listed companies’ disclosure obligations towards the market, adding another layer of complexity to the work that the team complete. Amundsen identifies one of the team’s biggest challenges to be that of simultaneously taking lead of, and remaining central in, large scale projects, conducting daily business in an irreproachable way, and remaining a frontrunner in the legal profession, all of which with limited resources. This however has not hindered the progress of the department who continue to excel and raise company standards.