The southern Karelia branch of Osuuspankki currently has about 800 Russian customers. According to the Bank of Finland, Russian households represent the second largest group of foreign banking customers in Finland.
Russian consumers have become an increasingly significant customer group for Finnish banks, with households surpassing Russian businesses in terms of their level of savings.
In Lappeenranta, southeast Finland, St. Petersburg resident Vasily Fissevh has been a customer of Finnish banks for six years.
“Finnish banks are reliable, European banks. The bank cards are easy to use for shopping abroad,” Fissevh said.
Other customers from the east are also increasingly interested in reliability. Finnish banks currently hold close to 1.7 billion euros in funds from Russia, roughly 1.5 billion of it coming from Russian banks.
According to data from the Bank of Finland, currently Russian householders have deposited some 135 million euros into their Finnish bank accounts, compared to the 77 million held by Russian businesses.
“If we look at foreign savings in Finnish banks, that’s a large sum,” said Bank of Finland Senior Economist Seija Lainela.
The Bank gathered information on households savings based on nationality, without drilling down into specific amounts held by individual households.
Read the whole story here: http://yle.fi/uutiset/russian_households_boast_bigger_bank_balances_than_businesses/7023726
Source: YLE