Sweden OKs largest Nordic bank Nordea to move HQ to inside EU zone

COPENHAGEN – The Associated Press

Sweden's financial supervisory authority has granted permission to the Nordic region's largest bank to move its administrative headquarters from the Swedish capital Stockholm to Helsinki in Finland, which is part of the European banking union.

Finansinspektionen says its assessment of moving Nordea "focused primarily on whether creditors, including depositors, or the public interest would be negatively impacted," and concluded "these risks will not increase."

The authority said Aug. 23 "that the insight into and possibility for influence even in the future will be sufficient to maintain Swedish financial stability."

The bank with about 11 million customers in the Nordic countries has said that it "is in the best interest" of customers, shareholders and employees" to be inside the banking union, and "only a limited number" of Nordea's roughly 30,000 employees will be affected.