Foreign banking in Finland

[Rip]

I could have sworn the money would not be taxed unless its actually earned in Finland. Shows what I know eh.. :/

You don't pay tax on interest earned on a bank account if you live permanently elsewhere. The rest is between you and IRS. But there is little interest to begin with.

I believe the USD will continue to fall at a much faster rate than the Euro.

There has been hardly any particularly clear trend over the current economic crisis (soon five years): https://www.google.com/finance?q=EURUSD
US may continue to have a more aggressive monetary policy, but also (and certainly at least in part as a consequence of it) a less miserable economic performance. In longer term, if you deposit 5000 EUR today, you can't be sure what is the currency unit in for example five years time.

List of currently available deposit rates
http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/porssi/ko ... letuskorot
Includes also some foreign banks operating one way or another also in Finland and banks that you can't use without having another Finnish account in some other banks as well. Overall, the numbers are small.

[Rip]

Regarding Nordea. Although Nordea is a Nordic bank with the parent company in Sweden. The company operating in Finland is Nordea Bank Finland plc, a local bank.

Most locals would not consider Nordea a foreign bank. Also Danske as others have already stated their operations in Finland have roots in a Finnish bank.

The main "local" banks in Finland are (not exhaustive)

OP-Pohjola (doesnt matter what form it is, it is still considered one entity when looking at market share)
Nordea
Danske
Aktia
Säästöpankki
Evli
Ålandsbanken
S-bank
Handelsbanken

If one uses the legal designation of things then Handelsbanken is a Swedish bank, while Nordea and Danske operations are run by a Finnish bank, even if it is fully owned by the foreign parent.
Foreign banks operating (accepting individual deposits) in Finland:
http://talletussuoja.fi/en/list_of_bank ... fault.aspx
List of Finnish banks (277 of them) is exhaustive in an unpleasant sense as the OP-like groups are shown at an individual bank level, the list of representatives at the Finnish deposit guarantee fund administration is much faster to read: http://talletussuoja.fi/en/about_the_fu ... fault.aspx

[tjawatts]

Exactly how I would define a Finnish bank, them falling under the domestic deposit guarantee.

Good links

T