OP-Nordic Countries Index

OP-Nordic Countries Index is an index fund investing its assets in accordance with its benchmark index in the stocks of the 70 largest listed companies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. With a single investment, the investor gets diversification into several countries and industries. The target market being an advanced economy, the investor's portfolio will get a solid base which steadily follows global economic prospects. Although the investments are made in a certain geographical area, the investor still needs to consider the risk associated with an individual market. It might be useful to hedge against such risks by investing in several index funds at the same time.

OP-Nordic Countries Index is a cost-efficient investment alternative for an active investor looking for proper returns in the long term. Low management combined with the tax benefits attributable to funds make this fund an attractive way to invest in the stock market.  Comprehensive management of an index fund investment always requires the investor's own effort. Here the portfolio manager's role mainly consists of cost-efficient execution of the fund according to the index. On the other hand, OP-Nordic Countries Index offers an agile and low-cost way to execute one's own view of the Nordic stock market's performance.

As part of an overall asset management portfolio, investing in OP-Nordic Countries Index is naturally a good diversification method for anyone. Thanks to their low fees, index funds can well complement actively managed funds in the portfolio of, say, a long-term saver or pension saver. The fund is recommended to an investor who intends to redeem his/her units after seven years at the earliest. With index funds, you can also make an agreement for a systematic investment plan, which easily enables monthly investments in index funds for increasing one's assets.

OP-Nordic Countries Index Fund is a passive index fund whose assets are invested in accordance with the MSCI Nordic Countries ESG Screened Indexx in equities of largest listed companies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. This means that the assets of the fund are
distributed in the countries and companies constituting the benchmark index in the same proportions as in the benchmark index.

Since the fund strives to replicate the performance of the benchmark index as closely as possible, it will only maintain a small cash position to pay for redemptions. In order to reduce securities transactions resulting from redemptions and subscriptions, the fund may use derivatives instruments in its portfolio management to a limited extent.

Since the assets of the fund are invested in equities of the largest companies by market capitalisation, its investments may be concentrated significantly in certain sectors, such as industrials, financials and technology.

The Fund’s trading costs are relatively low as changes to the portfolio are basically only made in conjunction with index adjustments.

The Fund is a passive index fund. It promotes environmental and social characteristics by using an index based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis while excluding certain investments. 

Negative screening: As the Fund is a passive index fund, the Fund manager cannot make individual exclusion decisions. The Fund is based on an index which excludes companies with connections to the production of controversial weapons. The index also excludes companies which have violated international standards (UN Global Compact and OECD guidelines for multinationals) and companies which have committed very severe ESG violations.

Use of ESG data in the investment analysis: The benchmark index considers companies’ ESG rating and emphasises those companies with better ESG ratings.

Assessing good governance: The Fund is based on the MSCI ESG Universal Index, using both the MSCI ESG Rating and the MSCI ESG Rating Trend data and gives weight to those companies with better ratings. The level of corporate governance is included in the ESG Rating.

As our owner-customer, saving and investing is especially worthwhile thanks to the excellent benefits you receive.

Your benefits when investing in funds:

• Buy and sell almost all OP mutual funds with no fees.*
• You earn 0.35% OP bonuses from mutual fund and insurance assets.** 

Your benefits when investing through insurance: 

• Begin saving through insurance free of charge. 
• You will earn 0.35% of OP bonuses from funds linked to insurance assets.***
• Switch between investments, invest additional funds and change your payment and investment plan for OP Unit-linked Insurance and OP Capital Redemption Contract free of charge in our digital services.  

**OP bonuses are used to pay the bank’s service charges and insurance premiums.

***You earn OP bonuses from unit-linked insurance policies, excluding individual unit-linked insurance policies and Individual Capital Redemption Contracts. The principles of contribution towards OP bonuses from funds linked to insurance assets will be harmonised with direct investments. As of 1 January 2025, the following funds linked to insurance assets will no longer contribute towards OP bonuses: third-party funds such as JP Morgan funds, structured loans and institutional class funds such as OP-World III A.

Your benefits in equity and ETF investing:

• Open an equity savings account or book-entry account free of charge.
• You get a discount on equity trading and a 1% fee ceiling when trading in Finnish listed companies through a book-entry account The discounts apply in digital services.
• Get access to free stock picks and analysis.
• Get a discount on the service packages for savers and investors:
  Equity savings account: 
  Saver: €0/month (normally €2.99/month)
  Investor: €9.99/month (normally €14.99/month)
  Book-entry account: 
  Saver: €0/month (normally €2.99/month)
  Investor: €0/month (normally €5.39/month)

Other benefits:

• Only owner-customers can invest in Profit Shares.

Remember to make use of all benefits: