Additional information about owner-customer membership

Becoming an owner-customer and member contribution

Your current customer relationship and any user ID in your use affects you becoming an owner-customer.

• If you are an OP cooperative bank’s customer and have OP’s user ID, you can become an owner-customer by logging into the op.fi service. Become an owner-customer
• If you are an OP cooperative bank’s customer but you do not have OP’s user ID, start by booking an appointment Book an appointment
• If you are not an OP cooperative bank’s customer but you have another bank’s user identifiers and are interested in becoming an OP cooperative bank’s customer, become our customer online Become our customer easily online

Membership cooperative contribution

When joining us, you will pay an ordinary cooperative contribution as a one-time contribution, no other payments exist. In most banks, the amount of the membership cooperative contribution is 100 euros. You can find the amount of the membership cooperative contribution on the owner-customer application and in your OP cooperative bank.

If ever you decide to stop being an owner-customer, your membership contribution will be refunded to you in full. The cooperative contribution will be refunded after one year has lapsed from the end of the financial year during which the owner-customer membership was terminated.

However, OP cooperative banks have the right to refuse to refund the contributions according to the bank's rules. You can check the rules of the OP cooperative bank on the bank's op.fi page or in the head office.

Who can become an owner-customer?

Any person, entity or foundation using OP Financial Group’s services, irrespective of their nationality, can become an owner-customer.

Child as an owner-customer

A child can become an owner-customer. All guardians of the child sign together their underage child’s application for an owner-customer membership. By doing so, the parents also give their consent that their child will begin to earn OP bonuses.

If the membership contribution is paid using proceeds of the child’s own work, the child can him/herself sign the membership application and pay the membership contribution.

Owner-customer terminates the membership

The owner-customer has, at any time, the right to terminate their owner-customer membership by informing their OP cooperative bank of this in writing. The owner-customer membership termination date is the date on which the OP cooperative bank has received the termination notice.

Death of owner-customer

An owner-customer membership will terminate on the death of the owner-customer. In the distribution or partition of the deceased person’s estate, the death estate can transfer the deceased person’s owner-customer membership, generally either to widow/widower or heir.

OP bonuses are used for an owner-customer’s charges and fees for his/her personal use of services. OP bonuses will not be used for products or services related to a private customer’s business or farming.

OP bonuses are automatically used for purposes determined by OP, such as banking services, insurance premiums, OP Koti's real estate commissions and fees for legal services.

Banking service charges

• daily banking services (current account, OP's digital services, OP's payment card)
• service charges for automatic debiting of loan repayments
• custody fees for domestic and foreign book entry securities and securities
• monthly fees for the market information service investment research, news package and price package
• OP Saving-for-retirement custody fees
• safe deposit box rental fee and custody fees
• annual and monthly loan guarantee fees
• service charges for international online payments
• subscription fees for index-linked bonds
• asset management fee, management charges and withdrawal fees for OP-Private individual unit-linked insurance
• asset management fees and commissions
• loan service charges

Insurance premiums

OP bonuses are used for premiums for home and family insurance, or Extrasure. These include:

• personal insurance, e.g. health and living allowance insurance
• home insurance, fire, burglary, leakage, valuables, boat/yacht, pet and horse insurance
• liability and legal expenses insurance
• forest and forest fire insurance
• continuous traveller’s, luggage, travel liability and legal expenses travel insurance

OP bonuses are used for premiums for motor vehicles, or Motor Vehicle Cover. These include:

• motor liability insurance
• Crisis Cover that supplements motor liability insurance
• Super, Maxi, Standard and Medium Motor Insurance

The insurance premiums are debited to your bonus account either in part or in full depending on your bonus pool. OP bonuses are always used for insurance premiums from the bonus account with most bonuses. Customers cannot choose the insurance policy for which their OP bonuses are used to pay the premium. The bonus account must always has a minimum balance of 10 euros for the payment of banking service charges. OP bonuses are used for insurance premiums when the policyholder and the payer is the one and the same person.

You can see the use of your OP bonuses for insurance premiums immediately after your bill has been created in the billing system. Due to the disclosure obligation under the Insurance Contracts Act, insurance bills are delivered to customers no later than one (1) month before their due date. Bonuses will be used before the delivery of the bill, so that any amount paid in cash would be correctly shown in your bill.

Earned OP bonuses are used for the insurance premiums of the family unit’s owner. OP bonuses are also automatically used for transactions done by members of the family unit, provided that they are owner-customers. OP bonuses are used for insurance premiums when the policyholder and the payer is the one and the same person.

Read more about a family unit under “OP bonuses of the whole family”.

OP Koti's real estate agent commissions

OP bonuses are automatically applied to OP Koti’s real estate commissions either partially or in full depending on the available amount of earned bonuses.

OP bonuses can be used, for example, for:

• real estate commission
• fee for appraisal
• commissions for rented housing
• fee for the contract of sale drawn up by OP Home.

Fees for legal services

OP bonuses can be used, for example, for:

• estate inventory
• estate distribution
• partition of estate
• last will and testament
• continuing power of attorney
• premarital/postmarital agreement
• deed of gift

OP bonuses are used to pay service charges, fees and insurance premiums determined by OP Financial Group and for payment of separately specified services.

OP bonuses are automatically used for the service charges of the OP cooperative bank whose owner-customer you are. Moreover, OP bonuses are used to pay insurance bills.

OP bonuses are used in chronological order. Any unused bonuses expire after five (5) years of their accrual.

The new multiplier for OP bonuses will be 0.0035 in 2024 (0.0025 in 2022 and 0.00325 in 2023).

OP bonuses are calculated by multiplying your annual euro transactions by 0.0035. For example, transactions worth 100,000 euros bring around 29 euros in OP bonuses a month, or some 350 euros a year.

You generate OP bonuses to the OP cooperative bank whose owner-customer you are. There is no maximum amount for bonuses.

Transactions that generate bonuses are calculated at person level. For example, a loan that you share with another person generates bonuses in proportion to both persons’ share of the loan This means that if a couple wants to earn OP bonuses through their home loan, it pays both of them to be an owner-customer.

OP bonuses come from

Funds in savings accounts

OP bonuses are calculated based on the monthly average balance of the funds in savings accounts, such as the High-yield Account and ASP account.

Loans

OP bonuses are calculated on the monthly average balance of loans. The average balance includes, for example, home and student loans.

Payment Protection Insurance

The Payment Protection Insurance premium generates OP bonuses, provided that the premium is added to the loan principal and is paid on a one-off basis for the entire policy period.

Investments, for example

• Mutual funds
• OP Unit-linked Insurance
• OP unit-linked pension insurance (taken out since 25 May 2011).

OP bonuses are calculated based on the monthly average of the OP Mutual Funds’ daily market values. OP Unit-linked Insurance and OP Pension Insurance are included in the customer volume at the month-end value. Pension policies generate OP bonuses during retirement too. Interest-bearing endowment or pension insurance does not generate OP bonuses.

Non-life insurance

OP bonuses come from insurance premiums for home, family and motor vehicle policies. OP bonuses come from paid Motor Vehicle Cover and Extrasure insurance premiums for the month when the premium is paid. Note that you also get OP bonuses from the portion paid using OP bonuses. OP bonuses go to the premium payer notified to Pohjola Insurance.

Cooperative capital

Your membership share, or the membership cooperative contribution you have paid, does not generate OP bonuses. Profit Shares do not generate OP bonuses either.

• current account deposits
• unsecured consumer loans (Flexible Consumer Credit, Special Consumer Credit, OP Tailored Consumer Credit, Overdraft Facility, One-off Loan)
• OP's hire purchase financing
• Purchases paid using OP Visa as a credit card, the balance of credit with interest of OP-Visa and OP Duo cards

Persons who live in the same household and are owner-customers of the same OP cooperative bank can establish a family unit. The bonuses earned together will be used to offset banking service charges and insurance premiums of all members of the family unit.

Owner and members of the family unit

One person will be named as the family unit owner, in whose OP bonus account all OP bonuses are recorded. Other persons are members of the family unit.

The family unit owner can view on OP-mobile and the op.fi service how much bonuses the family unit members have earned and what they have been used for. The family unit owner can give a family member permission to see the bonus details. For now, this is only possible in family units with two members aged at least 18.

Establishing a family unit or adding a member to the family unit

Establishing a family unit requires a written consent of all persons that will be included in it. If you want to establish a family unit or add a member to an existing family unit, call OP Customer Service or message us on OP's digital services.

When two persons of age want to establish a family unit, they should decide in advance which one is the family unit owner and which one is the member. A minor can be a family unit member but not a family unit owner.

OP bonuses are used to offset the charges of family unit owner and member

The bonuses earned by a family unit are used to offset banking service charges and insurance premiums of all members of the family unit. Bonuses are first used to pay the service charges of the bonus account holder and then those of the other members of the family unit. Bonuses are also used for insurance premiums if the policyholder and payer is the one and the same person.

Under age member of the family unit

An underage child may also be included in the family unit. OP bonuses earned by the child will be paid to the OP bonus account of the family unit owner. Both guardians’ consent is required to include a child in the family unit.

18-year-olds excluded from the family unit

When a member of the family unit comes of age, they will be automatically excluded from the family unit. If, however, the person wants to stay within the family unit, they must visit a bank branch and give written consent to it.

Because the person turning 18 is an owner-customer, a bonus account will be automatically opened for them when they are excluded from their parent’s family unit.

Dissolving a family unit

If a family unit is dissolved or any of its members leaves it, all of the earned OP bonuses will remain with the owner of the family unit. Pooled OP bonuses will not be distributed between members of the family unit.

OP bonuses are automatically used for all services/products determined by OP starting from the oldest ones as long as they are valid. Any unused bonuses expire after five (5) years of their accrual.

OP bonuses earned until the termination of owner-customer membership will remain valid during the year of termination and in the subsequent two years and will automatically be used for bank service charges and insurance premiums.

Earned OP bonuses can be used for a decedent’s estate service charges. However, the decedent’s estate does not earn new OP bonuses and those earned previously cannot be transferred to a member of the family unit or a decedent’s estate distributee.

Owner-customers earn OP bonuses through their transactions in OP Financial Group entitling to OP bonuses.

Private customers earn OP bonuses through their personal banking, wealth management and insurance transactions.

Transactions that generate bonuses are calculated at person level. For example, a loan that you share with another person generates bonuses in proportion to both persons’ share of the loan.

Insurance premiums bring OP bonuses to the payer notified to the insurer’s customer data.

Transactions done by a spouse and underage children can be included in generating OP bonuses if the members of the family form a family unit and all of them are owner-customers.

Read more about a family unit under “OP bonuses of the whole family”.

OP bonuses go to the bonus account

OP bonuses go monthly to the bonus account of the OP cooperative bank whose owner-customer you are.

You can see the bonuses based on your previous month’s transactions in the bonus account in the early part of the following month. You can see the bonus account balance and transactions on OP-mobile and the op.fi service. Account transactions show how much bonuses you have earned and how much was used to pay for banking services and insurance premiums.

Cases where OP bonuses do not accrue?

When you become an owner-customer, you agree to it that you will earn OP bonuses as soon as you do transactions that entitle to OP bonuses. If you like, you can refuse OP bonuses. Such refusal must always be performed at a bank branch in writing or by proxy on the op.fi service.

Bonus entitlement excludes a person who or a member within his/her family unit has non-performing loans or loans subject to collection procedures, if the person or any member of his/her family unit is subject to debt reorganisation or if the person or any member of his/her family unit has misused his/her customer relationship.

Tax treatment of OP bonuses is determined by legislation in force from time to time, legal practice and statements issued by the Finnish Tax Administration.

Using OP bonuses to pay fees and charges related to banking and insurance services is tax-exempt, provided that the bonuses are used for banking and insurance services specified and chosen by OP Financial Group and for other Group service charges, and the customer does not have an option to specify how he/she uses bonuses.

OP bonuses related to business or farming and forestry

Only an OP cooperative bank’s owner-customer can earn OP bonuses as a personal customer and from using services for personal customers. If the services and products are in a company's name (used under a business ID), no OP bonuses will accrue.

Read more

Tax deductibility

The portion of the services, fees or insurance premiums paid using OP bonuses is not tax-deductible.