Sampo Group is 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...

 company in insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

, and, until the year 2006, 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:...

ing. It is one of the largest companies in Finland. In November 2006, it was disclosed that the banking business of Sampo is sold to the Danish Danske Bank

Danske Bank

Danske Bank is a Danish bank. The name literally means "Danish Bank" It was founded 5 October 1871 as Den Danske Landmandsbank, Hypothek- og Vexelbank i Kjøbenhavn ....

, so that Sampo will concentrate on its insurance business. One of the main shareholders and Chairman of the Board of Sampo is Björn Wahlroos

Björn Wahlroos

Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos is the Chairman of the Board in Sampo Group, Nordea and UPM-Kymmene. Wahlroos’s nickname is "Nalle", which means "teddy bear" in Finnish and Swedish.- Career :...

, who is also one of the richest individuals in Finland.

If

Through If Skadeförsäkring Holding AB it controls the major 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....

 insurance company If Skadeförsäkring AB and its Finnish sister company If Vahinkovakuutusyhtiö. The two companies also operate in Norway

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...

, Denmark

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 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...

.

Mandatum Life

Sampo Plc owns the entire stock of the Mandatum Life Insurance Company Limited. The Mandatum Life Group owns Sampo Life Insurance Baltic SE, which operates in all Baltic countries and is domiciled in Estonia. In Latvia and Lithuania the company operates through branch offices. Mandatum Life's market share of the Finnish and the Baltic insurance markets is about 20 per cent.

Nordea

Sampo Group own now 19.8% of the Nordic banking group Nordea

Nordea

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 banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen that took place between 1997 and 2000...

. In October 2009 Sampo plc received permission from Swedish authorities to acquire more than 20% of the bank.

Name

Sampo

Sampo

In Finnish mythology, the Sampo or Sammas was a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought good fortune to its holder...

 is the mythical machine in the Finnish folklore that creates salt, food, flour and gold out of nothing.