By the end of June, OP Uusimaa's owner-customers included 380,000 individuals and 1,200 companies or corporations.  Each owner-customer is unique, but some similarities shine through.

Entrepreneurs, pensioners, students and children account for most owner-customers, so we've come a long way since the bank's beginning 120 years ago.

Hyvinkään Osuuskassa, the cooperative credit society which is the oldest ancestor of OP cooperative banks in OP Uusimaa's region, had 33 members in 1910. These were mainly farmers – initially landowners and then also tenants. Members in the Porvoo area included several fishermen.

Nowadays, OP Uusimaa owner-customers most typically tend to be nurses, CEOs or practical nurses. Each of these professions represents around 1.2% of our members. OP Uusimaa owner-customers most typically tend to be nurses, CEOs or practical nurses.

49-year-old Timo or Anna

The average age of OP Uusimaa owner-customers is 49. However, 42-year-olds are the most numerous age-group.

We now have a dwindling, small number of centenarians, but over 26,000 owner-customers under 18 years of age.

Did you know that under-18s have the right to vote in the forthcoming Representative Assembly election for OP Uusimaa?

The average OP Uusimaa owner-customer is 49 years old.

In practice, there are equal numbers of men and women; the difference is around 1%. Women are ahead by a whisker, representing 50.5% of owner-customers while men represent 49.5%.

The most frequent first name is Timo. We also have a lot of Juhas, Mikkos and Anttis – more than 3,000 of each. With 5,000 occurrences, Anna and Anni are most frequent names among women, but Laura and Päivi make it into the top four. In practice, an equal number of men and women can be found among owner-customers.

Most of OP Uusimaa's owner-customers (93%) are Finnish citizens. A total of 0.9% are Estonians, whereas Swedes and Indians each account for around 0.6%. Chinese people make up the fifth-largest group of owner-customers. They amount to 0.4% (around 1,500).

In addition to Finnish citizens, owner-customers include Estonian, Swedish, Indian and Chinese citizens.

Locals from Karkkila are the largest group in relative terms

Roughly speaking, OP Uusimaa's area of operation covers the Province of Uusimaa, from Loviisa to Lohja and from Helsinki to Hyvinkää. But which of the towns and municipalities served by OP Uusimaa provide most owner-customers?

It's probably no surprise that most personal owner-customers live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Helsinki (30.9%), Espoo (15.7%) and Vantaa (11.8%). More than 117,000 therefore live in Helsinki, around 60,000 in Espoo and just over 44,000 in Vantaa.

However, we get a different picture when we compare owner-customer numbers to total residents in a town or city. Only 17% of Helsinki residents are owner-customers of OP Uusimaa.

Karkkila, which has 8,500 residents, has the highest number of owner-customers proportionally. A total of 25% of Karkkila residents are our owner-customers. Almost a quarter (24%) of residents of Järvenpää and Hyvinkää are owner-customers, whereas 22% of people from Kerava and 20% from Porvoo have this status.

A quarter of Karkkila residents are owner-customers of OP Uusimaa. (Source: Number of owner-customers versus Statistics Finland's data on municipal key figures for 2024)

Do you invest, have you taken out insurance or a home loan?

People talked about credit institutions, not banks, at the end of the 1800s. The cooperative credit societies were established to meet demand for loans among farmers. However, the importance of teaching people how to save and manage their finances emerged in the 1920s. Deposits were now accepted from non-members as well as members.

What needs of owner-customers does OP Uusimaa currently fulfil?

Five out of six OP Uusimaa owner-customers (85%) have made a digital services agreement and use banking services online. Three out of four (76%) have taken out insurance of some kind with Pohjola Insurance.

Almost half (46%) have an OP Savings and Investments Agreement with their bank. A fifth (20%) have taken out a home loan through OP. A total of 5% of personal owner-customers own Profit Shares, having invested capital in their own OP cooperative bank.

Are you representative of a typical owner-customer? A good Representative Assembly is a diverse cross-section of our owner-customer community. You can now stand for election to add your voice to your bank's governing body. In November, you can help to shape your bank's new Representative Assembly by voting.

Read more about Election of the Representative Assembly of your OP cooperative bank.‍