Nordea's move to Finland expands banking sector and equalises competition

Nordea's annual general meeting has today decided to relocate its headquarters to Finland. The company intends to execute the move on 1 October 2018.

Following the move of Nordea's headquarters, the Finnish banking sector will grow to around three times the size of gross domestic product.

– From the perspective of the stability of the euro area, it is desirable that as many of the major banks as possible be covered by common banking supervision and the jurisdiction of the Single Resolution Board. For the Finnish banking sector, Nordea's move means a levelling of the playing field, since the majority of the banking sector will become subject to similar supervision and regulation," states Anneli Tuominen, Director General of the FIN-FSA.

This creates a significant number of new tasks and necessitates further recruitment. The FIN-FSA will recruit up to 30 people to strengthen the supervision of Nordea and will also adjust the organisational structure of Banking Supervision to better support the supervision of such a major institution.

In addition, the FIN-FSA is making preparations for the use of macroprudential tools in a situation where Nordea has moved to Finland, and for future supervisory cooperation with the ECB and the Swedish financial supervisor.

The FIN-FSA will discuss the impacts of the move of Nordea's headquarters in more detail in its press conference on macroprudential stability and the financial position of supervised entities on Monday 19 March.

Further information

• Jyri Helenius, Deputy Director General
• Requests for interviews are coordinated by FIN-FSA Communications, tel. +358 9 183 5250