Nordea celebrated its 150-year history in many ways, one of which was organising a ballot to select the best coin bank of all time. Competition participants included many coin banks that were familiar to the Finns from the days of the Union Bank of Finland (SYP), Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (KOP), and Merita. At the same time, all ballot voters performed a good deed, as Nordea had committed to donating one euro per each vote, up to the collection target of €15,000, to the John Nurminen Foundation Clean Baltic Sea projects. In the end, with over 17,128 votes cast, the collection target was exceeded.

In early December, Nordea’s marketing director Thomas Pimenoff handed over the donation of €15,000 on behalf of the bank to Erik Båsk, the Foundation’s Secretary General. Pimenoff commented,
– The coin bank competition allowed everyone to take part in raising the funds for the donation in a fun and easy way;
– The theme of celebrating the 150th anniversary was beautifully attuned with the Baltic Sea, its great past, and a future which we all are accountable for.
– With small choices, our customers can do good deeds for the Baltic Sea every day, as donations can be made with debit card purchases via the electronic piggy bank, i.e. the ePiggy.
Nordea’s customers can also get a MyMoney picture card with the Clean Baltic Sea logo. For each card, Nordea donates three euros to the Clean Baltic Sea projects.

The coin bank donation brought the first year of cooperation between Nordea and the John Nurminen Foundation to a close. The cooperation was initiated in the autumn of 2012, and will carry on to 2013. In addition to the cooperation involving ePiggy services and debit cards, other forms of cooperation have taken place during the year: for example, the Foundation participated in Nordea’s annual forest cruise, where cruise passengers received information on the protection of the Baltic Sea; in August 2012, Nordea was host to the annual Clean Baltic Sea Club stakeholder event.