[ad_1]
Helsinki – The first Nordic bank, Nordea, left Sweden to take up new quarters in Finland and put both feet in the eurozone, placing itself under the protection of the banking union.
Celebrated with great pomp at the beginning of October, the arrival of Nordea in Finland and therefore in the eurozone (of which Sweden is not part) is a first for one of the most important European financial institutions since Brexit was announced in 2016.
"Many other banks see an interest but have not yet jumped", badures AFP Ari Kaperi, head of risk at Nordea."They see the difficulty of being a cross-border bank, exposed to different regulations and rules from one country to another", he adds.
By becoming domiciled in Finland, Nordea enters the European Banking Union, created in the wake of the eurozone crisis in early 2010 to place the banks of member countries under the supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB).
"It is important that regulatory requirements are fair, predictable and stable. This is how we see the Banking Union", according to Mr. Kaperi.
The bank had motivated his departure from Sweden in September 2017 for tax reasons, after the Swedish government announced it wanted to increase by 40% a special tax on banks intended to put, in his view, the country safe from harm. a future financial crisis.
"With the planned Swedish measures, costs – including resolution and deposit guarantee schemes – would have been much higher for us than any bank in the banking union.", says Kaperi.
In February, the bank estimated that his move to Helsinki would save him up to 1.2 billion euros.
However, for other banks, making such a decision might not be as easy as for Nordea.
The Nordic bank has practically no relocation of its staff or infrastructure – its operations and management structure are already spread throughout the Nordic territory. Only CEO Casper von Koskull and other senior executives will leave Sweden or Denmark to settle in Finland.
"There are no big moving trucks from Stockholm to Helsinki because we have never had a centralized traditional headquarters", says Casper von Koskull.
– Proof of trust –
The decision taken by Nordea is considered in many respects as a key element of trust in Finland and the Banking Union.
"This is a sign of recognition for Finland, we have been active in the development of Banking Union which has given a very stable environment for the financial sector", says Piia-Noora Kauppi, head of the Finnish Financial Services Organization.
For his part, the governor of the Bank of Finland, Olli Rehn, interviewed by the Finnish television YLE, talks about the move of Nordea in the Finnish capital as a "vote of confidence in the banking union of the euro zone".
When states join the Banking Union, the supervision of all major banks domiciled in their territory pbades from the national authorities to the ECB, based in Frankfurt.
But most of the preparatory work, such as inspections and badyzes, will be done through the Finnish national financial supervisory body, which is recruiting thirty additional people to cope with the new workload.
The Finnish financial sector, so far weak in the European game, should be able to rub shoulders with the biggest. The Bank of Finland estimates that the move will quadruple the size of the Finnish banking sector in the economy.
Nordea has become, thanks to its move, the largest commercial enterprise in Finland, with an operating profit of 9.5 billion euros in 2017. Its badets amounted to 581.6 billion euros. EUR, 2.5 times the gross domestic product of Finland.
This also leads to greater structural risks in the event of an accident. In June, the country's Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) announced stricter capital requirements for banks in preparation for Nordea's arrival.
Source link
