Nordea is a financial services group operating in Northern Europe, based in Stockholm. It is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen (Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The largest share holder of Nordea is the Swedish Government with 19,9 % of the shares. Nordea Group is listed in Stockholm Stock Exchange, Helsinki Stock Exchange and Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Nordea has more than 1,100 branches and is present in 19 countries around the world, operating through full service branches, subsidiaries and representative offices. Nordea Group also operates an internet bank, which is the world leader of internet banking in terms of usage, having more than 4.8 million online customers doing more than 200 million payments every year.