Nordea reputation hit by Panama Papers scandal

Nordea Bank appears to have had its reputation affected by the Panama Papers scandal, with by far fewer clients now willing to recommend the bank, according to a report by IRO Research. Nordea is currently conducting an internal investigation regarding the Panama Papers, and intends to announce its findings in the summer.

Sat, 21 May, 2016 12:01:59 AM

Panama Papers leakage

FTimes – STT Report, May 21

The logo of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca at the entrance of its Hong Kong office. File Photo – AFP-Lehtikuva. The reputation of Nordea bank seems to have suffered a clear setback following the leakage of Panama Papers, according to a survey conducted by research organization IRO Research.

Nordea International Private Banking in Luxembourg has allegedly provided tax haven facilities to its customers, unveiled the Panama papers.

By far, fewer Nordea clients in comparison to the past are now willing to recommend the bank to friends and acquaintances.

Still, a year ago, a similar survey revealed that over a third of Nordea clients were certain or al-most certainly willing to recommend the bank to acquaintances; however, this year the corre-sponding figure is just over a fifth.

According to IRO Research, two other major banks in the country OP Financial Group and Danske Bank have not experienced such a drop in recent years.

Vesa Väisänen of IRO Research said that based on recent developments, the drop experienced in the willingness to recommend Nordea which has currently been seen is exceptionally high.

File. Photo – AFP / Lehtikuva. Research firm IRO said that through its own initiative it had conducted the survey on the will-ingness to recommend a bank since 2012.

The survey received responses from 1,000 Finns through a nationwide consumer panel in April.

Nordea did not comment on the survey results on Friday.

The activities of Nordea became subject to controversy this spring following the revelations of the Panama Papers.

OP Financial Group has revealed that it has been receiving plenty of new clients after the Panama Papers revelations.

Nordea is currently conducting an extensive internal inquiry regarding the Panama Papers, and intends to announce its findings in the summer.

According to the IRO Research, the Panama Papers controversy is the main reason for not willing to recommend the bank to acquaintances.

Isolated issues in the survey which were posed to the interviewee groups concerning the banks were limited. However, according to Väisänen, based on the survey the negative effects of the Panama Papers on Nordea was huge.

“The open-ended answers revealed that a large proportion of Nordea clients had raised the Pan-ama issues in their responses by their own initiatives,” Väisänen said.