For Ingka Group – who operates 378 IKEA-stores and its e-commerce platform in 31 countries – this is a decisive step into financial services, a core part of Ingka Group’s journey to help make IKEA more affordable, accessible and sustainable. For Ikano Bank, who is on a journey to become a fully digitalised bank for the many people, a closer partnership with Ingka Group, will enable the Bank to further accelerate its transformation and deliver accessible financial services for more of the many people.
Ingka Group and Ikano Bank originate from the same founder, and share a heritage, strong culture and similar values. They already have a longstanding commercial partnership, where Ikano Bank has served as IKEA Retail’s financial service provider across eight countries. With this part-ownership in the Bank, Ingka and Ikano Bank will be able to maximise the potential of the existing relationship and provide financial services to customers, through a seamless end-toend digitised experience, offered online or in-store.
Krister Mattsson, Managing Director, commented: “This agreement brings us a step closer to fulfilling Ingka Group’s ambition to offer competitive and accessible financial services, enabling even more people to have better homes and thereby, better lives. The significant investment in Ikano Bank is also an exciting step for Ingka Investments into the banking sector. As customers and retailers increasingly seek banking solutions with a strong digital foundation, our commitment to work even closer with Ikano Bank during its digital transformation is a great opportunity to serve new and existing customers alike.”
Henrik Eklund, CEO, Ikano Bank, said: “We’re excited to welcome Ingka Group as a part owner of Ikano Bank. Together we will continue to develop accessible digital financial services for IKEA customers, our other valued partners, and end customers.”
Ingka Group will continue to work with a range of partners across all IKEA Retail countries to deliver financial services to its customers. Ikano Bank will also continue developing and working with its existing partners and other business lines delivering simple, fair and affordable services, enabling a healthy economy for the many people.
The transaction has been agreed between the parties and is now subject to regulatory approvals from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) and relevant competition authorities. Following the completion of the transaction, representatives from Ingka Group will, subject to completed management suitability assessment from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, join the Board of Ikano Bank. Ingka Group has a call option to acquire the remaining 51% of shares at a later date.
For more information:
Tuff Leadership Training — “Tough practice is what makes a difference”
The Swedish Chamber met with Carl Erik Herlitz, co-founder of Member Company Tuff Leadership Training and facilitator of the upcoming event “Stop Motivating Your Employees'' in collaboration with the Swedish Chamber.
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Welcome New Member
The Swedish Chamber of Commerce is very pleased to give a warm welcome to our new Member ! Founded in Stockholm in 2015 with the goal of making the world's books available to more people and challenging what it means to "read a book", is one of the Nordic region's largest subscription services for audio and e-books, also available in other European markets. Needless to say, we are proud to have them as Member Company.
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Swe-Cham offers two Scholarships 1 July 2021 – 1 July 2022
Scholarships
We are proud to offer talented and creative young professionals the opportunity to join the Swedish Chamber of Commerce and to gain international business experience through the various scholarship programmes. Generous scholarship donors The Scholarship Fund for Swedish Youth Abroad and Gull & Stellan Ljungberg Foundation Scholarship make these opportunities possible. We are very pleased to host a Scholar supported by The Scolarship Fund for Swedish Youth Abroad for the third time and to start our collaboration with Gull & Stellan Ljungberg Foundation Scholarship for the first time.
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Nils van der Poel breaks 10000m world record on final day of Worlds
Rejuvenated Swede won his second title in Heerenveen to end the World Single Distances Championships in style, as the Netherlands took their tally to seven golds.
Nils van der Poel ended the World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships in Heerenveen with a bang on Sunday (14 February).
Just two months after making his comeback to the sport, the Swede set a new world record in the 10000m to add to the 5000m title he won on Thursday.
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Dutch start using AstraZeneca vaccine, family doctors now come on board
A third vaccine in the Dutch coronavirus campaign came into use on Friday – the AstraZeneca vaccine which was approved for use by the European Medicines Agency at the end of January. In the Netherlands, the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccination is being given to people aged 60 to 65 as well as younger adults with morbid obesity and the over 18s with Down’s syndrome. Healthcare workers who have not yet been vaccinated will also come on board. From Monday, family doctors in Zeeland will start vaccinating their patients with the vaccine, and the programme will then be rolled out to Limburg, Brabant and then the rest of the country.
Read more at DutchNews.nl:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/02/dutch-start-using-astrazeneca-vaccine-family-doctors-now-come-on-board/
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Meet Ingrid Thijssen, President VNO-NCW, Speaker at European Chambers Partner Event on March 30, 2021 over the Dutch Election 2021
Ingrid Thijssen (1968) took up the position of President of VNO-NCW, the Confederation of
Netherlands’ Industry and Employers, on September 15th, 2020.
Prior to her appointment as President of VNO-NCW, Ingrid Thijssen was CEO of the electricity network company Alliander. In that capacity she was also a member of the Executive Board of VNONCW. Ingrid Thijssen has previously been CEO of NS Reizigers, the passenger transport branch of the Netherlands’ national railways company, and a member of the supervisory board of various organisations, including the Port Authority of Rotterdam and health insurance company Coöperatie VGZ.
She has also been a member of the supervisory board of Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and the board of SchuldenLab NL, an organisation assisting municipalities to help citizens managing their debts.
As President of VNO-NCW, Ingrid Thijssen is vice-chair of the SER (Social-Economic Council of the Netherlands), co-chair of the Stichting van de Arbeid (Foundation of Labour), chair of DECP (Dutch Employers' Cooperation Programme, assisting employers organisations in developing and emerging countries), chair of PUM (senior experts, assisting companies in developing and emerging countries) and chair of the supervisory board of the Netherlands’ international business support organisation NLinBusiness.
Ingrid Thijssen studied law at Utrecht University, after which she completed various courses at
international academic institutions (INSEAD, MIT, Harvard Kennedy School)
For more information about the Swedish Chamber of Commerce European Chambers Partner Event on March 30, 2021 please visit our event page.
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Amsterdam ousts London as Europe’s top share trading hub
UK’s departure from the EU prompts shift in dealing of stocks and derivativesPlease use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of and . Email to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be .
Amsterdam surpassed London as Europe’s largest share trading centre last month as the Netherlands scooped up business lost by the UK since Brexit. An average €9.2bn shares a day were traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE Europe and Turquoise in January, a more than fourfold increase from December. The surge came as volumes in London fell sharply to €8.6bn, dislodging the UK from its historic position as the main hub for the European market, according to data from CBOE Europe. The shift was prompted by a ban on EU-based financial institutions trading in London because Brussels has not recognised UK exchanges and trading venues as having the same supervisory status as its own. Without this so-called equivalence to ease cross-border dealing, there was an immediate shift of €6.5bn of deals to the EU when the Brexit transition period concluded at the end of last year. It was about half of the amount of business that London banks and brokers would normally handle. Analysts and executives say the transfer would not mean thousands of jobs leaving London, while the tax hit would be limited to the effects the move in trading would have on the profits of companies involved, they said. Financial services contributed almost £76bn in tax receipts to the UK Treasury last year.
Still, the large move in share trading to Amsterdam makes the city one of the early winners from Brexit. Since the start of the year, Amsterdam has also picked up activity in swaps and sovereign debt markets that would typically have taken place in London before Brexit. CBOE Europe is setting up a derivatives trading business in the Dutch capital in the first half of the year.
Photo WolfSimen Unsplash
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Ingka Investments to take 49% stake in Ikano Bank
Ingka Investments 11 February 2021
Ingka Investments B.V. is to become part-owner of Ikano Bank AB (publ), which today is fully owned by Ikano S.A. Through the issue of new shares by Ikano Bank, Ingka Investments B.V. will obtain a 49% stake in the Bank, with the option to acquire the remaining shares at a later date. The transaction is subject to approvals by relevant regulatory authorities.
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