Sampo Bank's rivals expect intense competiton over large clients

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Sampo Bank's competitors anticipate intense competition over large corporate clients after the more than EUR four billion deal between Sampo and the Danish Danske Bank, in which the Danish company bought the Sampo Bank Group.
      Reijo Karhinen, CEO of OKOBANK said that Sampo Bank's position in the market for financing of large companies will improve after the deal.
      "With small and medium sized enterprises Sampo has already been a strong challenger, and I did not see this situation changing through this change in ownership", Karhinen said.
      He does not see any impact of the deal on retail banking services for individual consumers.
     
Danske Bank is one of the main competitors of Nordea on the Nordic market, notes Nordea's deputy CEO Markku Pohjola. The fact that Danske decided to buy Sampo Bank did not come as a surprise to him, and even less surprising in Pohjola's view was that Sampo decided to sell its banking operations.
      Both Nordea and Danske have similar strategies in geographical enlargement, and Danske now got the foothold in Finland that it lacked.
     
Hanna Koivisto, head shop steward representing Sampo's bank workers said that bank personnel took the news "quite calmly". She noted that there had been many changes before, and that the deal was just one among all the others.
      Sampo Bank was originally the state-owned Postipankki, which first changed its name to Leonia before linking up with Sampo.
      There is fairly little duplication of work between Sampo Bank and Danske Bank, and no great job cuts are expected.
      However, there is concern that there could be implications for IT personnel, when Sampo Bank's computer system is integrated into that of Danske Bank.
     
Bjorn Wahlroos, CEO of Sampo Group, was bursting with enthusiasm on Thursday when he officially announced the deal.
      Wahlroos said that the deal, worth EUR 4.05 billion, was the largest cash sale in Finnish corporate history. It gives Danske Bank control of all of Sampo’s banking operations in Finland, the Baltic States, and Russia, as well as Mandatum, and other investment service companies.
      The transaction leaves Sampo plc with its insurance operations, including If... the largest accident insurance company in the Nordic Countries, and the life insurance company Henki-Sampo.
     
Wahlroos said that Sampo did not have the resources to compete with its rivals Nordea over large corporate clients. He said that Danske has muscles of a different type".
      Danske Bank CEO Peter Staarup said that he had long looked in the direction of Finland where he saw a "hole". Danske has long operated in the other Nordic Countries, and with this deal it became an equal partner with Nordea in the Nordic region.
      Staarup promised that Sampo Bank would continue to operate under its own name. He said that no great changes would be forthcoming, but that new kinds of services in housing loans and savings will be offered to the bank’s clients.
      A key aim is to challenge Nordea, which has managed to get many large Finnish corporate clients.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Sampo Bank Group to be sold to Danish Danske Bank for EUR 4.05 billion (9.11.2006)

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