In a testament to OP Financial Group’s (OP) strength, resilience and popularity, 2022 saw the bank enjoy its second best year ever for net sales despite a severe wider market slump. Net fees rose 1.4% in 2022 to hit an all-time high, as did net fees from legal services, which were up almost 14%.
While peers were battening down the hatches and cutting spending, OP was making a multi-million investment decision to select FNZ as its new wealth management platform.
The firm has long been at the apex of Finland’s private banking industry, but has never failed to adapt, innovate and improve. In addition to what might be termed the standard suite of private banking investment options, the firm has done a fine job of differentiating its range of product offerings.
The OP Alternative Portfolio Fund, for instance, has made the firm a leading provider of alternative investment options in the Finnish market. A recently introduced OP-Infra Fund offers clients a brand new strategy focussed on selective domestic infrastructure projects.
Expanding the options for alternative and infrastructure investment has gone hand in hand with a growing focus on sustainability. By late 2022, ESG considerations had been fully integrated into all the bank’s main investment processes.
Each one of OP’s private bankers are ESG specialists, having completed the country’s well-respected APV ESG exam. Almost half of mutual fund purchases that OP’s private banking clients make quality as either article 8 or 9 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
Other introductions in 2022 include a new wealth planning service, OP Private Wealth Planning, aimed at HNW clients with investment assets over €1 million. Legal services along with succession planning services have long been available to OP’s clientele. However, with the introduction of the new wealth planning service, these offerings along with other areas of expertise, such as tax planning and investing, are now part of this bespoke service.
Finland’s HNW individuals have never been in better hands.