Banks|The CEO of OP Group says that the bank is not afraid that the government’s tax decision will lead to an exodus of customers.
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OP Group’s CEO Timo Ritakallio hints at increasing bonuses for owner-customers.
The board decided that capital gains tax must be paid on bonuses in certain cases starting in 2026.
Ritakallio promises that customers will continue to receive at least as good benefits as before.
OP Group is Finland’s largest bank in terms of deposits and loan portfolio.
of the OP group director general Timo Ritakallio hints at an increase in the bonuses paid by the financial group to its owner-clients.
The government decided this week in connection with the budget tussle that from the beginning of 2026 capital gains tax must be paid on bonuses if they are earned from banking services, but are used to pay for insurance.
However, Ritakallio promised earlier this week on his blogthat the bank’s owner-customers will continue to receive “at least as good benefits as before”.
How would this be implemented?
“There are different solutions for that. One option is that we only pay more for those bonuses, in which case the effect is the same. Then we will just pay the taxes on it on behalf of the customer”, Ritakallio opened his promise to HS.
“We have not yet made any final decisions on the matter. Now we know the content of the decision and we have to decide how to optimize the situation. One option is that we pay a larger part of our profit to pay bonuses.”
OP group is owned by its customers. Bonuses are the group’s way of distributing its profits to its owner-customers.
OP is Finland’s largest bank in terms of deposits and loan portfolio.
Today, about two million Finns receive tax-free bonuses, and last year they accumulated 275 million euros. About half of the bonuses are usually used to pay for insurance.
According to the board’s decision, the use of bonuses would still be tax-free if the benefit they bring is directed to the services from which the bonuses have been accumulated. Bonuses from bank services could therefore be used in addition to service fees, for example, to pay the interest costs of a loan.
Typically, bonuses accrue from banking services such as mortgages or investment assets. For example, for a mortgage of 100,000 euros, a bonus of 350 euros accrues this year. The biggest payments, on the other hand, are usually related to insurance.
Do you at OP fear that the decision will lead to customers fleeing to competitors?
“We don’t believe in that. In my opinion, this has taken on quite large proportions, considering that the premiums paid with bonuses are only 7–8 percent of Pohjola Insurance’s premium income. The first priority is that the products and services of Pohjola insurance are competitive and competitively priced.”
OP’s the bonus system has rubbed off on its listed competitors for a long time.
The draft law decided by the government is based on the initiative of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Agency (KKV) to the Ministry of Finance in 2021. According to the agency, the current practice has created a tax support that distorts competition, which has obscured competition in the insurance industry.
In practice, it has bound mortgage customers to also become insurance customers of Pohjola, which is part of the OP group.
OP opposed the change, but got a small victory in the matter, because the law changing the taxation of bonuses was proposed to enter into force already at the beginning of next year.
Are you satisfied with the transition period?
“It was very important that there was a transition period for this. This applies to a large number of people and you have to take care of collecting that tax. Three or four months would have been quite a short time,” says Ritakallio.
“We have presented that a transition period is needed for that, and now it was implemented over the course of a year.”
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