Finnish operations of eQ Bank to continue uninterrupted despite collapse of Icelandic parent

The Finnish eQ Bank is looking for a new owner, as its Icelandic parent company Straumur-Burdaras Investment Bank was taken over by the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority (FME) on Monday.
     
Straumur was the last major Icelandic bank left standing after the country's financial collapse in October. According to FME, the bank is being closed down as its liquidity position was no longer sufficient to sustain its activities.
      eQ Bank is a Finnish bank that is fully owned by the eQ Corporation, operating as an independent part of the Straumur Group, but the decision of Iceland’s authorities means that Straumur will sell eQ’s ownership, and the process to find a new owner to eQ’s share capital has been commenced.
     
However, the bank says that it is to continue its operations uninterrupted, as FME’s decision has no effect on eQ’s economic position, customers, personnel, or business operations.
      ”We have no receivables from Straumur nor any liabilities to any other companies belonging to the Group, while eQ’s operations are not tied to Straumur’s operations in any way”, eQ Bank CEO Antti Mäkinen reported.
      However, the decision made by the Icelandic financial authorities means that eQ will now have to be sold. According to Mäkinen, the bank has already been in contact with potential buyers - including some Finnish financial groups.
      According to Mäkinen, the customers of the eQ Bank have taken a calm attitude towards the present situation, and the number of calls to the bank’s customer services was even lower than normal on Monday morning.
     
According to the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), FME’s decision will not have an impact on the Finnish operations of eQ Bank or its subsidiaries nor their customers.
      However, the difficulties of the eQ Bank parent company came as no surprise as the Straumur-Burdarás Group suffered losses of nearly EUR 575 million over the period from October to December.
     
The largest owner of Straumur is the Icelandic businessman Thor Björgólfsson with a stake of 34 per cent.
      His investment firm Novator is also one of the owners of the Finnish sports equipment company Amer Sports. Björgólfsson previously had holdings in Finnair and in the telecoms operator Elisa.
      On Monday FME suspended the Straumur bank’s board chaired by Björgólfsson, and appointed a resolution committee to handle the bank’s problems. At the same time, the bank’s CEO William Fall also resigned with immediate effect.
      eQ Bank specialises in investment services. Its business areas are securities brokerage, asset managment, corporate finance, and hosting. The bank has offices in Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku, and has some 56,000 customers in Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ålandsbanken to buy Swedish operations of Kaupthing (23.12.2008)
  Finnish Kaupthing depositors may get money in October (21.10.2008)

See also:
  Director of Novator Finland amazed at Elisa Board´s course of action (11.1.2008)
  Monday: Pension insurers Varma buy Icelandic stake in Elisa (13.10.2008)
  Shareholder Novator wants changes to Amer Sports Executive Board (3.3.2009)
  Insurance Supervisory Authority has no objections to Varma acquisition of Elisa stock (15.10.2008)

Links:
  Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) press release 9.3.2009
  eQ Bank
  eQ press release 9.3.2009: Authorities take over Straumur