A conversation with Dr Tom Dahlström of Finland’s OP Group, the ubiquitous financial services firm, is like having one’s own TED talk about banking. Firstly there’s his ‘doctor’ thing. Not many banking executives can claim to be one – Dahlström’s doctorate is for economics, which he got in Helsinki after post-graduate studies at London’s LSE. Then there’s his title: chief strategy officer. Such deal-spotting jobs are increasingly commonplace at banks but, after 15 years at the decidedly Nordic OP Group, Dahlström functions more as an in-house boffin, with a mandate to research, think and divine trends as to where and how OP can extend its reach….continues..