Mandatum & Co, a Finnish investment bank, and Interbank, a Finnish commercial bank that concentrates on private banking and retail banking services, are to merge. Mandatum & Co has since it was founded in 1992 been one of Finland's leading companies in the investment sector. The merger will be carried out as a combination merger so that the new bank, which is to be called Mandatum Bank Oyj, could commence its business activity by the beginning of August1998. The biggest single shareholder of the new bank will be Mr. Bjoern Wahlroos, founder of Mandatum & Co, with 33.7 per cent of the shares.
The new bank will have a balance sheet total of around 548 US$ and its degree of solvency will, according to the BIS requirement of solvency, be around 25 %.
The merger will enable the new bank to combine Mandatum & Co's capital assets and knowledge in the investment sector and Interbank's knowledge in the field of private banking. Especially the Finnish investment sector has developed rapidly over the past years. The competition has become more severe in the past years with many banks establishing corporate finance orientated subsidiaries. The new Mandatum Bank will thus primarily try to maintain the advantage in the investment-banking sector that Mandatum & Co already has had for many years.
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