Nordea
Encyclopedia
Nordea Bank AB is a Stockholm
-based financial
services group operating in Northern Europe
. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish
, Finnish
, Danish
and Norwegian
bank
s of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank
and Kreditkassen
(Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The Baltic countries
and Poland
are today considered part of the home market, Latvia
already having a branch of Nordea from 2006. The largest share holder of Nordea is Sampo a Finnish insurance company with around 20% of the shares. Nordea is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
, Helsinki Stock Exchange
and Copenhagen Stock Exchange
.
Nordea has more than 1,400 branches and is present in 19 countries around the world, operating through full service branches, subsidiaries and representative offices.
The international corporate banking division has branches in Germany
(Frankfurt), United Kingdom
(London), Singapore, China
(Shanghai) and in the United States
(New York). Nordea International private banking has its headquarters in Luxembourg
with branches in Belgium
(Brussels), France
(Cannes), Luxembourg, Spain
(Fuengirola
- Málaga
) and Switzerland
(Zurich). Besides, Nordea also has representative offices in Brazil
(São Paulo
) and China (Beijing).
Nordea currently serves 11 million private and 700,000 active corporate customers. The group also operates an internet
bank, which is the world leader of internet banking in terms of usage, having more than 5.9 million online customers doing more than 260 million payments / year.
, Finnish
, Danish
and Norwegian
bank
s of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen
(Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The name Nordea comes from the Swedish bank Nordbanken, which was based on PK-banken (Post och Kreditbanken; owned by Swedish state) which in 1990 purchased the smaller private bank Nordbanken, and picked up that name. PK-banken was formed in 1974 at a merger between Postbanken (formed 1884) and Sveriges Kreditbank (formed 1923), both state owned.
The private Nordbanken was formed in 1986 at a merger between two smaller private local banks, Uplandsbanken and Sundsvallsbanken.
1. Sampo Group, a Finnish
financial corporation, 21.3%
2. The Swedish state
, 13.5%
3. Nordea Fonden, 3.9%
4. Swedbank Robur Funds, 3.3%
5. AMF Insurance and Funds, 2.1%
". The theft was perpetrated by targeting Nordea customers with phishing
emails containing a trojan horse
, that was especially made for this robbery. Apparently these emails were sent out over a period of 15 months. According to Nordea, at least 250 people had unwittingly installed the trojan. The thieves evaded detection by limiting their transfers to small sums. Nordea has refunded all the victims and has implemented a new security system.
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
-based financial
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
services group operating in Northern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank
Unibank (Denmark)
Unibank was a Danish bank, formed in 1990 by merging Andelsbanken, Sparekassen SDS and Privatbanken. At that time it was the second biggest Danish bank....
and Kreditkassen
Christiania Bank
Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, branded domestically as Kreditkassen or K-Bank and internationally as Christiania Bank was a Norwegian bank that existed between 1848 and 2000 when it merged with MeritaNordbanken and became Nordea...
(Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The Baltic countries
Baltic countries
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
are today considered part of the home market, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
already having a branch of Nordea from 2006. The largest share holder of Nordea is Sampo a Finnish insurance company with around 20% of the shares. Nordea is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
Stockholm Stock Exchange
The Stockholm Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863 it is the primary securities exchange of the Nordic Countries....
, Helsinki Stock Exchange
Helsinki Stock Exchange
The Helsinki Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Helsinki, Finland. Since 3 September 2003 it has been part of OMX, referred to as OMX Helsinki . Since NASDAQ's acquisition of OMX in February 2008, the official name of the Helsinki exchange has been NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.- History :The...
and Copenhagen Stock Exchange
Copenhagen Stock Exchange
The Copenhagen Stock Exchange or CSE is an international marketplace for Danish securities, including shares, bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial futures and options...
.
Nordea has more than 1,400 branches and is present in 19 countries around the world, operating through full service branches, subsidiaries and representative offices.
The international corporate banking division has branches in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(Frankfurt), United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(London), Singapore, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(Shanghai) and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(New York). Nordea International private banking has its headquarters in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
with branches in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(Brussels), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Cannes), Luxembourg, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(Fuengirola
Fuengirola
Fuengirola, in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga, autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is a major tourist resort, with more than 8 km of beaches, and home to a mediæval Moorish fortress...
- Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
) and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(Zurich). Besides, Nordea also has representative offices in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
) and China (Beijing).
Nordea currently serves 11 million private and 700,000 active corporate customers. The group also operates an internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
bank, which is the world leader of internet banking in terms of usage, having more than 5.9 million online customers doing more than 260 million payments / year.
History
Nordea is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen
Christiania Bank
Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, branded domestically as Kreditkassen or K-Bank and internationally as Christiania Bank was a Norwegian bank that existed between 1848 and 2000 when it merged with MeritaNordbanken and became Nordea...
(Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The name Nordea comes from the Swedish bank Nordbanken, which was based on PK-banken (Post och Kreditbanken; owned by Swedish state) which in 1990 purchased the smaller private bank Nordbanken, and picked up that name. PK-banken was formed in 1974 at a merger between Postbanken (formed 1884) and Sveriges Kreditbank (formed 1923), both state owned.
The private Nordbanken was formed in 1986 at a merger between two smaller private local banks, Uplandsbanken and Sundsvallsbanken.
Ownership
Nordea is owned by (1.6.2011):1. Sampo Group, a Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
financial corporation, 21.3%
2. The Swedish state
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, 13.5%
3. Nordea Fonden, 3.9%
4. Swedbank Robur Funds, 3.3%
5. AMF Insurance and Funds, 2.1%
Online theft
In 2007 Nordea was the subject of an online phishing scam. The amount of money involved was "between seven and eight million SEKSwedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
". The theft was perpetrated by targeting Nordea customers with phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
emails containing a trojan horse
Trojan horse (computing)
A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...
, that was especially made for this robbery. Apparently these emails were sent out over a period of 15 months. According to Nordea, at least 250 people had unwittingly installed the trojan. The thieves evaded detection by limiting their transfers to small sums. Nordea has refunded all the victims and has implemented a new security system.
Subsidiaries
- Nordea Bank Danmark A/SNordea Bank Danmark A/SNordea Bank Danmark A/S is a bank in Denmark. It is part of Nordea - the largest Scandinavian financial group. Nordea is the result of a merger between the Danish bank Unibank, which itself was an amalgamation of older Danish banks, most notable Sparekassen SDS, and banks from other Nordic countries....
- Nordea Bank Finland Abp / Nordea Pankki Suomi Oyj
- Nordea Bank Latvia
- Nordea Bank LithuaniaNordea Bank LietuvaNordea Bank Lietuva is a Lithuanian branch of Nordea Bank Finland Plc and a part of the Nordea Group – the largest Nordic financial group.The Nordea Group entered the Lithuanian market in 2000. In 2004 it acquired the Polish bank Kredyt Bank S.A. Vilnius branch.The Nordea branch in Lithuania...
- Nordea Bank Norge ASA
- Nordea Bank Polska S.A.
- Nordea Bank Russia
See also
- PlusGirot – open clearing system in Sweden owned by Nordea
- European Financial Services RoundtableEuropean Financial Services RoundtableThe European Financial Services Roundtable is a European organization, located in Brussels, Belgium, of financial service companies to provide a voice on policies of the European Union related to financial matters...
- Inter-Alpha Group of BanksInter-Alpha Group of BanksThe Inter-Alpha Group of Banks was created in 1971 by six European Community banks in order to provide a platform for the regular exchange of ideas and to explore areas for cooperation between its member banks...
- Kansallis-Osake-PankkiKansallis-Osake-PankkiKansallis-Osake-Pankki was a Finnish commercial bank operating from 1889 to 1995. It was created by the fennoman movement as a Finnish language alternative to the largely Swedish language bank, Suomen Yhdyspankki . The two banks were merged in 1995 to form the Merita Bank...
- Unibank (Denmark)Unibank (Denmark)Unibank was a Danish bank, formed in 1990 by merging Andelsbanken, Sparekassen SDS and Privatbanken. At that time it was the second biggest Danish bank....
, for the history of the banks that formed Nordea in 2000. - List of oldest companies, as Nordea is the oldest bank in Sweden, with roots from 1820.