Aktia Bank
Aktia Bank Plc is a Finnish asset manager, bank and life insurer with offices in the Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Vaasa and Oulu regions. Aktia has four business areas: Private customers, Corporate customers, Asset Management and Life Insurance. Aktia has three reporting business segments: Banking Business, Asset Management and Group Functions. Aktia has about 260,000 private customers and 20,000 corporate and institutional customers. Aktia is owned by Finnish savings bank foundations, institutions and private individuals. The name "Aktia" is derived from the Greek language word "akti", which means "coast". Aktia used to serve as the central financial institute for  savings and local co-operative banks. History. Aktia originated from the oldest deposit bank in Finland, founded in 1825 as "Helsingfors Stads Sparbanks Inrättning". In 1891 the bank changed its name to "Helsingfors Sparbank" (Helsinki Savings Bank). Some banks that have merged with Aktia include: "Kirkkonummen Säästöpankki" in 1956, "Säästöpankki Torkkeli" in 1979 and "Espoon Säästöpankki" in 1980. Aktia attained its current form in 1991, when the savings banks of Bromarv, Hanko, Ingå, Karjaa-Pohja, Sipoo, Siuntio, and Tenala merged to form "Säästöpankki Aktia" (Savings Bank Aktia). Later the savings banks of Porvoo and Vaasa were merged. The name was  changed to "Aktia Säästöpankki Oy" (Aktia Savings Bank Oy) in 1994. In 1996, Aktia acquired the retail banking operations of SKOP Bank , which went bust in the early-1990s Finnish banking crisis and the recession that followed.