Bank of Åland

Bank of Åland was founded in 1919 and has been listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange since 1942. In the 1990s Bank of Åland expanded its operations to the Finnish mainland and in March 2009 the bank established itself in Sweden through the acquisition of the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB.

The acquisition of Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB

In October 2008 Kaupthing hf in Iceland was nationalized and the shares in the subsidiary Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB were taken by the Swedish National Bank as a pledge. In March 2009 Bank of Åland Plc acquired most of Kaupthing's Swedish activities.

Bank of Åland paid SEK 388 million for the companies Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB, Kaupthing Fonder AB and Alpha Management Company S.A, with a total balance sheet of SEK 5 billion and an equity of SEK 832 million. The acquisition included operations in private banking, wealth management and institutional equity trading. Most of the lending to companies was not included in the deal, but was transferred to its parent company Kaupthing hf. The liquidity support Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB received from the Bank of Sweden in autumn 2008 was repaid in full. Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB changed its name to Ålandsbanken Sverige AB.