The financial cornershop
OKO expands from its local base
In recent years Finland's OKO Bank has enjoyed a similarly buoyant period of expansion to Erste Bank's. Originally set up in 1902 as the central bank for the country's local cooperative banks, OKO is a member of the OP Bank Group. OP's Central Cooperative owns 39.4% of OKO Bank and 56.3% of the bank's votes, and is, in turn, controlled by Finland's cooperative banks, which are mutual organizations owned by just over 1 million members.
According to Timo Ritakallio, first executive vice-president and member of the executive board at OKO's Helsinki headquarters, the past five years have been a period of explosive growth for the bank. "It is true to...
