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Largest Nordic Bank Bans Employee Use of Bitcoin, Other Cryptocurrencies

© AFP 2023 / JESSICA GOW / SCANPIX SWEDENPeople walk by Nordea Bank headquarters in central Stockholm
People walk by Nordea Bank headquarters in central Stockholm - Sputnik International
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Scandinavian banking giant Nordea had previously vehemently rejected the idea of imposing such a ban, only to adopt one afterwards.

The largest Nordic bank, which last year shocked the public twice, first by stating that it was moving its headquarters from Sweden to Finland and then by announcing mass layoffs amid digitalization and automation, said the cryptocurrencies posed too high a risk for employees, placing them in unethical or even illegal situations.

The ban on employee ownership of crypto will come into effect on February 28. Employees who have already bought cryptocurrencies will be allowed to keep them, although they are being encouraged to sell.

"It is our assessment that the risks are too high, and that the protection is insufficient, both for the employees and for the bank," Afroditi Kellberg, Nordea Sweden's press officer, said, as quoted by the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.

Nordea also raised concern that trade in various cryptocurrencies remains unregulated.

"As an investor you lack protection against illicit business practices and money laundering," Kellberg explained.

"It is general practice in the banking industry to limit employees' own trade in order to prevent them from engaging in speculative investments that can expose them to the risk of financial loss and thus affect their financial situation. Therefore, like all banks, Nordea has the right to provide guidelines in this area that apply to employees," Nordea Norway communications chief Synne Ekrem told the Norwegian news outlet E24, defending its decision.

Nordea Campus is pictured as Nordea, the Nordic region's biggest financial group, announced on Wednesday evening that it'd move its headquarters from Stockholm to Helsinki, Finland - Sputnik International
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By contrast, Sweden's Central Bank revealed that it was researching the possibility of launching its own digital currency in the form of an "e-krona" as far back as November 2016. James Pomeroy of the British multinational banking and financial services holding company HSBC ventured in an interview with The Local news outlet that Sweden will be the first country in the world to establish a cryptocurrency of its own.

"Sweden is noticeably further ahead than the UK, mainland Europe and the US, which is a long way behind in this trend. Because of how technologically developed it is, you see a lot of new interesting things in economics quite a while before you see it elsewhere," Pomeroy told The Local.

READ ALSO: Not All Size Matters: Minuscule Finnish Municipality to Test Own Currency

One reason for Sweden's prowess is that the residents of the card-friendly Nordic country are particularly comfortable with non-physical financial transactions. In Sweden, the use of cash for payments has dwindled from about 40 percent in 2010 to only 15 percent in 2016, and is predicted to fall further.

Formed in 1995 through the merger of four major Nordic banks, Nordea currently operates in 19 countries around the world, serving 11 million private and 700,000 corporate customers. Earlier this year, it caused an uproar across Scandinavia with its much-debated decision to move its headquarters from Stockholm to Helsinki, followed by a declaration of mass layoffs, as it planned to reduce its staff of 31,000 by 6,000.

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