Suomen Yhdyspankki

Union Bank of Finland (1862–1919)

Henrik Borgström the Younger was instrumental in the creation of Suomen Yhdyspankki, while his father Henrik Borgström the Elder also played an important advisory role. He had initially proposed the establishment of a Finnish Agricultural Bank (Suomen Maanviljelyspankki) to support the creation in 1860 of the Finnish Mortgage Association (Suomen Hypoteekkiyhdistys) by purchasing its bonds, but that project was soon viewed as too narrow and a more autonomous design was eventually adopted. Suomen Yhdyspankki's founding general meeting was held in September 1861, and the bank began operations on 1 July 1862. It was the largest limited-liability company ever established in Finland by that time.

Suomen Yhdyspankki issued its own banknotes denominated in Finnish markka between 1866 and 1918, alongside the Bank of Finland.

Nordic Union Bank (1919–1975)

In 1919, Suomen Yhdyspankki merged with Pohjoismaiden Osakepankki (lit. 'Nordic Joint-Stock Bank', est. 1873) and adopted the name Nordic Union Bank, abbreviated in Finnish as PYP. The Nordic Union Bank was the dominant bank for Finland's Swedish-speaking community, whereas Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (KOP) was its main competitor and peer among Finnish-speakers. The country's third-largest bank, Helsingin Osakepankki (HOP), was more focused than PYP on the Swedish-speaking customer base. These linguistic divides, however, lost potency in the aftermath of World War II.

In 1922, PYP absorbed Privatbanken i Helsingfors, a troubled small bank that had been established in 1896. In 1945, PYP absorbed Käsipankki.

Union Bank of Finland (1975–1995)

The bank reversed to its original name in 1975, as the reference to Nordic countries was felt as confusing with the increase in regional cross-border financial integration. In 1986, Suomen Yhdyspankki acquired and absorbed Helsingin Osakepankki in what has been described as Finland's first-ever takeover battle. Its network reached a peak with 444 branches by 1987, and nearly 10,400 employees by 1988. 1988 was also the historic peak of SYP's profits, and when KOP and Pohjola Insurance made an unsuccessful attempt at acquiring SYP with economist Pentti Kouri as head of the merged entity.

In 1990–1992, the group underwent restructuring. The listed group parent company was renamed Unitas, while the deposit-taking banking operations were transferred to a subsidiary that took the name Suomen Yhdyspankki. The group included other subsidiaries along side the "new" SYP, namely Stella (life insurance), Partita (investment company), and Huoneistokeskus (property company). The group went into-loss-making operation in 1991 and remained unprofitable in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

In 1993, SYP purchased 122 branches of the troubled Suomen Säästöpankki (SSP), an entity established in 1992 to address the crisis of Finnish Savings Banks and channel government assistance. In February 1995, it opened a branch in Estonia, being the first foreign bank to do so.

Merger with KOP and the birth of Nordea

In the wake of the 1990s Finnish banking crisis, Unitas eventually merged with its longtime competitor KOP in 1995 to create a new entity called Merita Bank. KOP shareholders received 41.7 percent of capital in the new entity. Then in 1997, Merita Bank merged with Sweden's Nordbanken to create MeritaNordbanken, which subsequently also acquired Denmark's Unibank and Norway's Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse. In 2000, the resulting group was renamed as Nordea.