Merita
1995
The branding of a merger
Wolff Olins had been working closely with Union Bank of Finland since 1990. Through 1995 we became involved in defining the identity of the new organisation resulting from its merger with Kansallis-Osaka-Pankki. Wolff Olins was involved in all aspects of the corporate identity of the new bank.
Distinct but distinctly Finnish
Wolff Olins designed a new corporate mark to express the values of the bank, which we linked to the idea of ‘partnership’. The visual identity conveys a sense of Finnishness, both nationally and internationally. The vision we provided for Merita is of an organisation that harnesses technology to provide high standards of customer service. We also worked with the bank on a ‘Branch 2000’ project to express this vision in the physical design of its branches, which resulted in a brand that is distinct from its competitors and yet distinctly Finnish.
10 million customers
In 1997 Merita merged with Nordbanken to form MertiaNordbanken. After the successful acquisition of several other Scandinavian banks, MertiaNordbanken became the Nordea group. The group now has around 10 million customers, approximately 1,400 branch offices and a leading netbanking position with 5.1 million e-customers. In 2001 Nordea was the leading bank in Finland with 460 branches and service outlets.
