History
The story of Sampo began in 1909. This brief history of Sampo encapsulates all of the relevant milestones of Sampo Group - from the early years prior to Finland’s independence right through to the present day.
After the years of the depression, Sampo found itself in financial trouble. However, the company was back on its feet at the end of the decade and the recovery was symbolized by the brand new headquarters that were completed in 1938.
The employees celebrated Christmas in jazz cabaret style at the beginning of the 1930s.
1935
Sampo opened its first local branch in Helsinki.
In 1936, Sampo ran an architectural tender to find a design for the new headquarters. The old spaces in the Verdandi House had become too small as the company continued to grow. By the mid-1930s, the number of Sampo employees had surpassed 130.
The winning bid was that of the Turku-based architect Erik Bryggman, who was one of the pioneers of functionalist architecture in Finland at the time. Bryggman's proposal was completed on Yliopistonkatu in central Turku in 1938. The building was equipped with the most up-to-date technology and this was admired by many visitors. New applications included a modern timecard for the tracking of working hours.
By the 1930s, one in every four Finns was living in cities. Life was taking modern turns and city dwellers were enjoying new educational opportunities, better housing and factory-made clothing.
At the same time, new legislation and best practices standardized the insurance field. In fact, 1933 was a landmark year for Finnish insurance legislation following the introduction of a set of laws that was considered the most advanced in all of Europe.
Whilst the depression of the 1930s was short-lived in Finland, Sampo was slow to recover from it. Cutbacks in construction projects, companies shutting down and lower pay checks made a dent in premium income. In addition, Sampo was cautious about jumping on the bandwagon when it came to new approaches to gaining business, such as providing special offers on insurances.
Sampo was seen as a Swedish-language company, which in turn was thought by some to be harming its business development in Finland. The language battles that affected Finland in the 1930s also played out in the company. As most insurance clients were Finnish-speaking, the company wanted this to transfer into decision-making. In 1938, Finnish was made the official and the only language of the Board of Directors.