ECB criticises Nordea's restructuring plan
Bank of Finland Governor and ECB council member, Erkki Liikanen, has criticised Nordea Bank's plan to change its Finnish subsidiary bank into a branch, arguing that "Nordea Bank Finland is systemically a very important player in the Finnish capital markets. From the macroprudential supervision as well as the central bank point of view, changing Nordea Bank Finland into a branch is not desirable".  Finland's Financial Supervisory Authority has also criticised the plan.  

HELSINKI (Reuters) - European Central Bank council member, Bank of Finland Governor Erkki Liikanen has criticised the plan by Nordea , the Nordic region's biggest lender, to change its Finnish subsidiary bank into a branch. Nordea, which is based in Sweden, in July announced a plan to simplify its legal structure and change all its Nordic subsidiary banks into branches. Finland is the only Nordic country that is a member of the euro. "Nordea Bank Finland is systemically a very important player in the Finnish capital markets. From the macroprudential supervision as well as the central bank point of view, changing Nordea Bank Finland into a branch is not desirable," Liikanen told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. "Responsibility for supervision and crisis management of a systemically important bank would move outside of the banking union's common mechanisms." Finland's Financial Supervisory Authority has also criticised the plan. Nordea is Finland's second-biggest lender, with a market share of about 30 percent. (This version of the story has been refiled to say banking union, not bank unionin, in fourth paragraph) (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Hugh Lawson)