Finansinspektionen (FI) grants Nordea Bank AB authorisation to execute its merger plan and thus move the bank’s head office to Finland.
Nordea is a systemically important bank in Sweden. Therefore, a key starting point for FI’s assessment has been that Nordea’s capital requirement should be retained even after the move. FI’s methods for determining the capital requirement for a bank differs in some respects from the method’s used by the banking union, but in the short term Nordea’s capital requirements in EUR will remain unchanged. FI also makes the assessment that in the long run the capital requirement will be on par with today’s requirement.
FI’s assessment focused primarily on whether creditors, including depositors, or the public interest would be negatively impacted by the merger. FI assessed both whether the merger significantly increases the risk in the Group or the parent bank and whether the risk for the Swedish economy and Swedish taxpayers would increase. FI makes the assessment that these risks will not increase.
The merger will mean reduced Swedish responsibility for and influence over Nordea. However, it is FI’s overall assessment that the insight into and possibility for influence even in the future will be sufficient to maintain Swedish financial stability.
As part of the assessment FI had an extensive dialogue with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the supervisory authorities in Denmark, Norway and Finland. FI also invited Sveriges Riksbank and the Swedish National Debt Office to provide opinions.
