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.
At the turn of the millennium, Sampo made a surprise move into the banking world together with Leonia Bank. Sampo's new decade also saw the biggest cash deal in Finnish economic history and the company rise to a major Nordic insurance group.
The new era of Sampo came with new sleek signs.
2005
This was the year that Sampo's headquarters were moved from Turku to Helsinki.
The biggest financial news item in Finland at the start of the new millennium was the merger of Sampo and the state-owned Leonia Bank. It was the first time in Finnish history that banking, non-life and life insurances were grouped together under the same roof. The Finnish state became the biggest owner of the new business group.
The new Sampo-Leonia signs had only just been installed on the roof of a single office when the company name was again shortened – this time to Sampo. The name was secured when the investment bank Mandatum joined the group at the end of 2000. Björn Wahlroos became Group CEO and President and brought with him a new type of thinking derived from his banking expertise. The focus of operations shifted towards bank services and long-term savings.
"The Nordic financial field will be most strongly influenced in the coming years by internet banking services, the saving and investing interests of individuals, as well as by the internationalization of investments and of mergers and acquisitions" predicted Wahlroos on a news program of the Finnish broadcasting company MTV at the end of 2000.
During the 1990s, Sampo had ambitions to expand into other Nordic countries but this direction took a firmer stand in the next decade. In 2002, Sampo became a shareholder of the Nordic property and casualty insurance company If. Two years later, Sampo bought out the Norwegian company Storebrand, the Swedish-owned Skandia, and the Finnish insurance company Varma, making itself the sole owner of If.
Sampo announced a business deal in November 2006 that remains in Finnish economic history to this day due to its massive proportions: The Group sold its banking operations to Denmark’s Danske Bank for a purchase price of over four billion euros. It was the biggest ever cash transaction made in Finland.
The economic upturn came to a halt in 2008, but even the challenging years that followed did not affect the success of Sampo. As the owner of If, Sampo became the largest non-life insurance company in the Nordic region. Björn Wahlroos was named Chairman of the Board in 2009 and Kari Stadigh became Group CEO and President.