Finance Finland
Finance Finland, in Finnish Finanssiala ry, is the industry association of the financial sector and calls itself the voice of the Finnish financial sector in Finland and in Europe. Its 207 member organizations are banks, life and non-life insurers, employee pension companies, finance houses, fund management companies and securities dealers that operate in Finland.
Finance Finland contributes expert input while financial laws are drafted in Finland and the EU, and it takes part in public debate about how regulation affects financial services. About 60 financial sector experts work for the association in Helsinki, and Finance Finland also runs the Financial Academy and projects on financial literacy.
Members and sector figures
Finance Finland has 207 member organizations, which employ about 37,000 people. The members include limited liability banks, savings banks and the cooperative banking groups OP Pohjola and POP Bank Group, as well as life, pension and non-life insurers, investment firms, alternative investment fund managers and fund management companies.
Across the whole sector, the Finnish financial industry employs 37,300 people and manages 222 billion euros of fund capital, with 286.3 billion euros in loans and credits. The sector also paid 21.6 billion euros in pensions and 4 billion euros in insurance compensation, and people in Finland made 2.5 billion card-based payments.
Board, chair and CEO
Timo Ritakallio, President and Group Chief Executive Officer of OP Pohjola, is the executive chair of the board of Finance Finland. Sara Mella, Head of Personal Banking Finland at Nordea, is vice chair, and Arno Ahosniemi leads the association as CEO. The board appoints six sector-specific executive committees and further committees for horizontal matters such as the labor market and taxation, while a network of member representatives formulates the positions of the association.
The Finvoice e-invoicing standard
Finvoice is a publicly available invoicing standard published by Finnish banks, and Finance Finland hosts its technical documentation, schemas and guidelines. Businesses send Finvoice invoices through a forwarding service of their bank or payment institution, and buyers match each electronic invoice to its order by reference. The current schema is Finvoice 3.0, and the service providers include Aktia, Danske Bank, Nordea, OP Financial Group, S-Bank and the Savings Banks Group.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Europe
EU advocacy and the office in Brussels
Finance Finland takes part in European lobbying through the European Banking Federation, through Insurance Europe and through EFAMA, and it is also a member of the Nordic Securities Association. Further memberships include the European Payments Council, Leaseurope, Eurofinas and the European Banking and Financial Services Training Association.
The EU topics of the association include the simplification of financial rules, the banking union, digital finance, sustainable finance and fraud prevention, and it publishes its statements on draft laws. In Brussels, a permanent contact of Finance Finland works at the Nordic Finance Office on Square de Meeûs.
Address and directions
The office of Finance Finland is at Itämerenkatu 11–13 in 00180 Helsinki, across the street from the Ruoholahti metro station. Visitors reach it from the city center in a few minutes by metro, and several bus and tram stops are right outside the building. Guests who come by car can use ten free spaces in the courtyard or the paid Ruohoparkki car park on Porkkalankatu.
Finance Finland and Finance Loop
Banks, insurers and pension companies in Finland and in Germany prepare for the same EU rules on instant payments, the digital euro and DORA. Finance Loop members discuss these questions in the Payments & Digital Money track and at events on digital finance in Frankfurt and other European cities.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.