OP Financial Group is one of the largest financial companies in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It consists of 180 cooperative banks and their central organization. "OP" stands for "osuuspankki" in Finnish, literally meaning "cooperative bank". The financial group has over 2 million customer-owners, offering retail and commercial banking services all over Finland, as well as insurance services. In 2014 the group acquired the remainder of the shares of Pohjola Bank and consolidated its services under the OP brand, shortening its name to OP from OP-Pohjola, a name it had used since 2007. OP's current headquarters are located in

Vallila Vallila () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Vallila is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordered by Pasila to the west and Alppiharju to the south. Like Kallio, Vallila is mostly re ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, and opened in 2015. OP has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of

European Banking Supervision European Banking Supervision, also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB), whose supervisory arm is re ...

in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

History

The company's predecessor was founded in 1891 when the fire insurance company Palovakuutus-Osakeyhtiö Pohjola commenced its operations. Pohjola Bank was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1922, being one of the first companies to be listed in Helsinki. The first local cooperative credit societies were founded in 1902 and received a large loan from the Finnish state the next year. The central organization for cooperatives was founded in 1928 as an ideological organization between local branches. As the business environment has changed and banking regulation has tightened, the central organization has increased its influence on local banks significantly. In 2005 the central organization of OP Financial Group became a major shareholder of Pohjola Bank, which made the group the largest financial services group in Finland. The remainder of the shares were acquired in 2014.

Healthcare

In 2014 OP announced plans to expand into the health and wellbeing market. It operated a hospital in the Helsinki region. In 2021 it cancelled the plan and sold the hospital.

OP Corporate Bank

OP Corporate Bank Plc is the most significant subsidiary of OP Financial Group. OP Corporate Bank's customers are large companies in Finland. It is responsible for the Baltic business, operating as a bank for large companies and conducting financial services in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In addition, OP Corporate Bank offers financial services in internationalization. OP Corporate Bank also acts as the OP Financial Group's central bank. Katja Keitaanniemi has been the President and CEO of OP Corporate Bank since 2018.

Gallery

File:Asemakatu Kauppakatu spring 1979.jpg, Jyväskylä OP-Bank File:Osuuspankki Yhteistuki Lappeenranta.jpg, Lappeenranta OP-Bank File:Vetelin Osuuspankki 2017.jpg, Veteli OP-Bank File:Tampere - Hämeenkatu 12.jpg, Tampere OP-Bank File:Seinäjoki Osuuspankki 20190509.jpg, Seinäjoki OP-Bank

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Op-Pohjola Group Banks of Finland Financial services companies of Finland Companies based in Helsinki Banks established in 1902 1902 establishments in Finland Cooperatives in Finland Cooperative banking in Europe Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank