Press release 24 March 2014

Management appointments mark the beginning of a transforming OP-Pohjola Group

At its meeting on 24 April 2014, the Supervisory Board of OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative decided to make major changes to the management and organisational structures of OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated, with the aim of transforming the management of the entire Group and OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative Consolidated, in particular, with a more business-driven approach and creating a more integrated structure of the Group. In future, three business lines - Banking, Wealth Management and Non-life Insurance - will form the management basis throughout the Group.

These changes represent a continuation of the decision made last winter to buy back Pohjola Bank shares from shareholders with the result of delisting.

The management reorganisation is the first major step forward in building a new OP-Pohjola. The reorganisation will start with the Executive Board. For example, the Executive Board will be represented by all of the three business lines and management responsibilities will be rotated.  

Based on Supervisory Board appointments, new Executive Board members will take up their duties on 1 October 2014.

Jouko Pölönen, Pohjola Bank plc's current President and CEO, was appointed Senior Executive Vice President, Banking. Harri Nummela, who currently acts as CEO of OP-Services Ltd responsible for service production for the Group, will head Wealth Management. Olli Lehtilä, Managing Director of Helsinki OP Bank Plc, will act as Senior Executive Vice President, Non-life Insurance. Tony Vepsäläinen, Chief Business Development Officer and deputy to Executive Chairman and CEO Reijo Karhinen, will act as CEO of the Group's shared service production and OP-Services Ltd.

According to the plan, Jouko Pölönen will also act as Managing Director of the major bank in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area consisting of OP-Pohjola Banking and Helsinki OP Bank Plc, and Olli Lehtilä will act as Pohjola Insurance Ltd's President. As long as Pohjola Bank plc shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki, the existing responsibilities will remain unchanged.

As part of the management reorganisation, the role of Group control will become more simplified and its quality be improved. Jari Himanen has been appointed a new member of the Executive Board in charge of Group control. He will join the Executive Board from his position as Managing Director of Etelä-Karjalan Osuuspankki.

Executive Board members are as follows as of 1 October 2014:

Karhinen Reijo, Executive Chairman and CEO, Chairman
Vepsäläinen Tony, Group Services, Vice Chairman

Geber-Teir Carina, Identity and Communications
Himanen Jari, Group Control
Lehtilä Olli, Non-life Insurance
Luhtala Harri, Finance and ALM
Nummela Harri, Wealth Management
Palmén Erik, Risk Management
Pölönen Jouko, Banking
Sarajärvi Teija, HR

Markku Koponen will continue to act as the Executive Board secretary and deputy member in charge of legal affairs. All of the abovementioned persons will report to Reijo Karhinen.

The Supervisory Board also decided to raise the retirement age of Reijo Karhinen from 62 to 63 years. Karhinen will reach the age of 63 years in 2018.

Understanding customers' daily needs will be decisive for success

- Our aim announced earlier to streamline the Group and OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative and their decision-making and to simplify our ownership structure is already visible in our new organisation, explains Reijo Karhinen, Executive Chairman and CEO.

- The decisions that we just made will strengthen business and Group focus in senior management. Building a new OP-Pohjola Group will be a long-standing process. The new Executive Board is a combination of diverse experience, in-depth expertise and the courage to reform established practices, thinks Karhinen.

- The management appointments will deliver on our promise of a more powerful voice of our customers across the board. I am convinced that this team will be able to implement exacting change processes. We are not only seeking efficiency. Understanding customers' daily needs will be decisive for our success, points out Karhinen.

- In this decision, we have also taken account of the Group's unequalled structure and the resulting diverse role of the Executive Board both as the Board and the Executive Committee.

These appointments will be followed by organisational planning in greater detail.

On 6 February 2014, OP-Pohjola announced that it would make a tender offer for all Pohjola Bank plc shares. It also announced its plans to delist Pohjola shares and to become again a financial services group wholly owned by customers in terms of ownership structure. The purpose is to transfer the ownership of non-life insurance and asset management companies to OP-Pohjola as wholly-owned direct subsidiaries through various structural arrangements and to merge Pohjola Bank plc and Helsinki OP Bank Plc to become a new major bank in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

The tender offer has proceeded as planned. OP-Pohjola currently holds approximately 97.26% of Pohjola shares and approximately 98.51% of the votes conferred by the shares, and has initiated a squeeze-out procedure for the remaining shares.

For any requests for interviews, please call OP-Pohjola Communications, tel. +358 (0)50 523 9904

OP-Pohjola Group
OP-Pohjola Group is Finland's leading financial services group providing a unique range of banking, investment and insurance services. The Group has the mission of promoting the sustainable prosperity, well-being and security of its owner-members, customers and operating regions through its local presence. Its objective is to offer the best and most versatile package of loyal customer benefits on the market. OP-Pohjola Group consists of some 180 member cooperative banks and the Group's central institution, OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative, with its subsidiaries and closely-related companies, the largest of which is the listed company Pohjola Bank plc. With a staff of 12,000 OP-Pohjola Group posted consolidated earnings of 705 million euros before tax in 2013 and had total assets of 101 billion euros on 31 December 2013. The group has 4.3 million customers. www.op.fi




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Source: Pohjola Pankki Oyj via Globenewswire

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