Open house

The museum is located in the vault of the building and is not wheelchair accessible. The wooden front door of the building is usually locked but has a buzzer.

The next open house at the bank museum will be on Thursday 3 April 15.00–17.00. Welcome!

Aleksanterinkatu 36B, Helsinki.

Open doors once per month.

Open to groups (10-20 ppl.) on weekdays as agreed.

Nordea bank museum group visit reservations are managed by ISS Palvelut Ltd.

Tel: +358 20 5156100 (weekdays from 8am to 4 pm)  8,35 cent/call + 16,69 cent/minute

Email: opastusvaraukset @ fi.issworld.com

Permanent exhibitions

There is a fully-furnished bank interior designed by architects Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen on display at the museum. Dating back to 1904, the interior is a valuable specimen of cultural heritage. Part of the old banking hall and the manager's office are open for visitors. Banking memorabilia collected from a variety of commercial banks add to the historic atmosphere.

The museum's permanent exhibition includes an exhibition on the history of Finnish commercial banking starting from the establishment of the Union Bank of Finland in 1862. The exhibition focuses on the customer's point of view and showcases the banking services available to the customer.

There are memorabilia on display from each of Nordea's predecessor banks: a share certificate, bank book, piggy bank or some other object or piece of equipment that was used in the bank. The exhibition also features rare banknotes issued by the Union Bank of Finland in 1866 and 1882.

The museum's collection includes a multimedia exhibition, which showcases the evolution of banking technology as well as the branches of Nordea's predecessor banks. You can watch their old television commercials starting from the 1960s. 

Banking anywhere, anytime

Nordea's Finnish predecessors pioneered in the new way of banking and where therefore closely watched by the rest of the world. The idea behind Nordea's Netbank was born when TELESYP was launched in 1979. Today's mobile services date back to the 1980s. This is when the Union Bank of Finland developed its first telephone bank and envisaged banking services which could be used anywhere and anytime.

Regular ATMs and payment ATMs played an important role in the transformation of banking. They taught customers to use self-services and to value the accessibility of services. New technologies and the internet enabled the development of netbank and mobile services. Solo became a buzzword, which other banks´ customers also used when talking about internet banks.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Nordea's Solo internet bank was internationally renowned and attracted plenty of customers. In 2004, Nordea had more than 4 million customers using the internet bank, making it the world's largest internet bank measured by the number of payments. Nordea's top position reflects the bank's pioneering role and early efforts to develop brand new services.

Theme exhibition: Diversity and Inclusion – A Source of Creativity and Competitive Advantage

Equality, diversity, and inclusion have evolved through a long history and bold decisions. The exhibition explores how the banking industry has progressed toward a more diverse workplace – from the first female bank clerks and international employees to today’s equality goals. Nordea is committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels valued and included.

Museum objects

The bank museum's collection showcases the history and developments of commercial banking in Finland from the 1860s till this day. The collection of objects reveals the technical progress of the tools commonly used by businesses.

The historical objects at the museum comprise objects from the Finnish commercial banks which merged with Nordea's predecessor banks. The oldest objects date back to the founding days of the bank. The collection includes memorabilia from all of the predecessor banks across Finland. Some of the objects are work-related utilities and others business gifts given to the bank, but there are also some objects which were donated to the museum.

The museum is not systematically adding to the collection and only accepts objects used at the bank or gifted to the bank as donations if their background can be verified.

Shekin varmenninOdhner snurra
Photo: Check protector.Photo: Odhner, no 216.

Photo archive

Nordea's old photos have been scanned and they are stored in the photo archive of Central Archives for Finnish Business Records (ELKA). The photo archive features photos from Nordea's predecessor banks from the late 1800s to the 1900s. There are approximately 8,500 photos in total.

You can browse the photos by visiting ELKA's websiteOpens new window.

Clic "Haku" at the top of the page to open the search page:

· Enter the bank's name (for example KOP, SYP or HOP) in the field called "Freetext".

· You can also filter the search results by time and location.

· Tick the "Image" box and press the "Search" button to start the search.

You can get more tips on how to use the search function by hovering over the question mark icons (in Finnish). The photos in the archive are for browsing only. You can request high-resolution photos and permission to use them from ELKA.

See also:

You can find more information about Nordea's history and the museum by visiting the Our history page at nordea.com and the WikipediaOpens new window-page of Nordea Bank Museum.

Other interesting links: