Vaasa Joint-Stock Bank (1878-1920) was founded on the initiative of Vaasa businessman
Joachim Kurtén, who organized a preliminary share subscription with local merchants and businessmen in the autumn of 1878. The founding meeting of the bank was held in December 1878. The bank started operations on . Beyond its initial local focus, the bank soon established branches throughout Finland and operated increasingly as a national commercial bank. It had a particular strong position in credit to grain merchants in
Ostrobothnia. Its shares were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange between 1912 and 1920. The Bank of Vaasa suffered major credit losses before World War I, which it survived thanks to its strong balance sheet. In 1918 during the
Finnish Civil War, as the
Bank of Finland's
printing presses were in the hands of the Red side, it was granted emergency permission to issue its own
banknote-like payment instruments, referred to as , in denominations of 25, 100 and 500
markkas.
Turku Joint-Stock Bank (1896-1920) , which went exclusively by its Swedish name Åbo Aktiebank until 1907, was founded by local businesspeople including the and the brothers Ernest and Magnus Dahlström. The bank established a strong position in financing the wood processing industry and trade with Russia. Its shares were listed on the
Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1912. By 1919, it had 7 branches and deposits of 87 million marks.
Farmers' Bank (1910-1920) focused on providing short-term loans to the Swedish-speaking agricultural population. It started operations on . Its shares were listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1912. In 1916-1917, Landtmannabanken purchased a plot of land at the corner of
Aleksanterinkatu and
Keskuskatu in central Helsinki to erect a new head office building. The project was delayed by the turmoil of the late 1910s, but was eventually brought to fruition by Liittopankki in the late 1920s.
Merger into Suomen Liittopankki and aftermath In 1920, The three banks merged to form Suomen Liittopankki Osakeyhtiö ().
Gustaf Mannerheim became the chairman of the bank's board. The merger was intended to pool resources, rationalize the branch network, and save costs. It was not successful, however, and the individual entities continued to operate largely independently, each with its own directors and decision-making framework. In 1924, the bank was reorganized as a single parent entity with name shortened to Liittopankki Osakeyhtiö, with exchange of three shares of the former Federal Bank for one share in the new bank. An additional 40 percent new capital was raised. Gustaf Mannerheim remained as chairman of the board. In 1928, the group also absorbed the troubled . ==See also==