Pohjola Bank to be renamed OP Corporate Bank


Pohjola Bank plc
Stock exchange release
19 March 2015

Pohjola Bank to be renamed OP Corporate Bank

The Supervisory Board of OP Financial Group's central cooperative has made a decision in principle whereby Helsinki OP Bank Plc will be converted from a limited liability company to a cooperative bank during 2016. At the same time, Pohjola Bank plc will be renamed OP Corporate Bank plc.

The planned changes require regulatory approval from the relevant authorities.

OP Financial Group's banking operations in their entirety will continue to fall within the scope of joint liability as laid down in the applicable law.

When OP Financial Group announced a tender offer for Pohjola shares in February 2014, it also announced a plan that Pohjola Bank plc and Helsinki OP Bank Plc would merge. The Group has abandoned this plan as it found a solution according to which it can offer ownership of the retail bank to its customers.

Businesses in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area will operate under the shared management. From the customer's perspective, the Group aims to provide a uniform OP financial services offering encompassing all banking, non-life insurance and wealth management products and services.

Pohjola's parent institution OP Cooperative today published its own press release on plans to introduce a customer-owned retail bank in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, OP Helsinki

Pohjola Bank plc
Carina Geber-Teir 
Executive Vice President Corporate Communications

DISTRIBUTION
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
LSE London Stock Exchange
SIX Swiss Exchange
Major media 
op.fi, pohjola.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT 

Carina Geber-Teir, Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications, tel. 010 252 8394

Pohjola is part of Finland's leading customer-owned financial services group OP Financial Group. Pohjola provides its customers with banking, non-life insurance and asset management services. Pohjola acts as OP 's central bank and is responsible, together with OP Mortgage Bank, for OP's funding in the money and capital markets. As laid down in the applicable law, Pohjola, its parent company OP Cooperative and other OP Financial Group member credit institutions are ultimately jointly and severally liable for each other's debts and commitments. Joint and several liability within OP Financial Group is based on the Laki talletuspankkien yhteenliittymästä Act (Act on the amalgamation of deposit banks). www.pohjola.com

OP's mission is to promote the sustainable prosperity, security and wellbeing of its customer-owners, customers and operating regions. Its objective is to offer the best and most versatile package of loyal customer benefits on the market. OP Financial Group consists of about 180 member cooperative banks, its central cooperative OP Cooperative, and the latter's subsidiaries and affiliates.