OP Corporate Bank plc
OP Cooperative
Stock exchange release
30 October 2019 at 6.05 p.m. EET
Composition of OP Cooperative’s new Board of Directors
At its meeting of 30 October 2019, OP Cooperative’s Supervisory Board decided on the conditional composition of its new Board of Directors. Based on the decision by the latest cooperative meeting, OP Financial Group will adopt a three-tier governance structure on 1 January 2020.
In the new, three-tier governance structure, the central cooperative will have, instead of the current internal Executive Board, a Board of Directors consisting of members who are not directors of the central cooperative. The Board of Directors will be responsible for the central cooperative's decision-making, except for decisions of principle which are significant to the entire OP Financial Group and defined in the Bylaws as requiring the approval of the Supervisory Board (Supervisory Council as of 1 January 2020). The Board of Directors will also be responsible for supervising the central cooperative, and the current Supervisory Board committees (Risk Management Committee, Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee and the central cooperative consolidated’s Executive Nomination and Remuneration Committee) will become Board committees. The new governance structure will enter into force on 1 January 2020.
“The new governance structure will enable us to be more efficient and better support the implementation of our strategy. The Board of Directors will ensure the continuous profitability, efficiency and success of business by taking risk management and regulation strongly into account,” says Mauri Kontu, Chair of the Nomination Committee set by OP Cooperative’s Supervisory Board.
Members of the Board of Directors
As proposed by the Nomination Committee set by OP Cooperative’s Supervisory Board, ten (10) members were appointed to the new Board of Directors. The Supervisory Council will confirm the appointments after the new Bylaws have entered into force on 1 January 2020. The appointments are conditional and subject to the approval of the regulatory authority.
The following persons were conditionally appointed to the Board of Directors: Leif Enberg (b. 1954, M.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm., Approved Board Member), Jarna Heinonen (b. 1965, D.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm.), Jari Himanen (b. 1962, Diploma in Bus. & Adm., eMBA), Kati Levoranta (b. 1970, LL.M., MBA), Pekka Loikkanen (b. 1959, M.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm., Authorised Public Accountant), Riitta Palomäki (b. 1957, M.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm.), Jaakko Pehkonen (b. 1960, D.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm.), Timo Ritakallio (b. 1962, LL.M., MBA, D.Sc., Tech.), Olli Tarkkanen (b. 1962, LL.M., eMBA) and Mervi Väisänen (b. 1963, M.Sc., Econ. & Bus. Adm., Approved Board Member). These conditionally appointed members will bring to the Board strong strategic business experience and knowledge of regulation and the business environment, which will support OP Financial Group’s competitiveness and success. The Board members’ curriculum vitaes are appended to this release.
The composition of the Board of Directors may be supplemented in spring 2020.
The Supervisory Board proposes Jaakko Pehkonen as Chair and Jarna Heinonen as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. In accordance with the Bylaws, the Board of Directors will elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its members in its organising meeting in January 2020.
OP Cooperative’s Board of Directors will have a statutory Nomination and Remuneration Committee, Risk Committee and Audit Committee whose composition and duties are prescribed in the central cooperative Bylaws and whose duties in greater detail are prescribed in each committee’s charter approved by the Board of Directors. The majority of each committee’s members must be independent of the Group. The Board of Directors will select the committee members at its organising meeting.
OP Corporate Bank plc
OP Cooperative
Tuuli Kousa
Chief Communications Officer
Further information:
OP Communications, tel. +358 50 523 9904, viestinta@op.fi
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OP Financial Group is Finland's largest financial services group whose mission is to promote the sustainable prosperity, security and wellbeing of its owner-customers and business environment. OP Financial Group consists of 149 member cooperative banks, its central cooperative OP Cooperative, and the latter's subsidiaries and affiliates. The Group has a staff of 12,000 and 1.98 million owner-customers.
