The city of Kiruna has been moving bit by bit since 2004. How do you go about moving an entire city? And what are the challenges of being a bank in such a city?
Nordea’s Kiruna branch in Sweden is not only one of the world’s northernmost bank branches, but it is also part of a unique urban development. In the last 20 years, the city has bit by bit been moved 3 km to the east, including 6,000 people, the city centre – and the Nordea branch. This has resulted in a need to discuss upcoming home purchases with our customers, in addition to savings and investment plans.
"In recent years, we have had many conversations with customers who are affected by the city’s transformation. Being forced to move out of your home and finding a new one can be quite overwhelming. But we have been here for our customers, listening and supporting them in their process,” says Martin Agronius, branch manager in Kiruna since 2020.
As a bank, we also need to provide support in areas that currently affect the entire world:
"We are specialists when it comes to the needs of household customers, and one of the major challenges that our customers are experiencing right now is undeniably the turbulent stock markets. Being a secure and stable banking partner is therefore one of our most important tasks."
We've been here for our customers, listening and supporting them in their process.
Kiruna has the country’s lowest unemployment rate (2,2% in 2024) and at the same time its population is growing.
"As a bank with local presence, we also engage and share our expertise and networks in an association called ”Kiruna växer” (Kiruna is growing), whose purpose is a business-driven societal development. This is much needed when a lot is to be delivered to fulfil commitments to both the Swedish state, private companies and society as a whole."
Our corporate customers in the region are supported by the bank’s specialists that can be located in the region, all around the country and the Nordic region, enabling growth in many different ways.
"Our internal and external networks are a great help when supporting our corporate customers, as the networks give us new leads to meeting potential new customers in their workplace, together with their employers," says Martin, and goes on to talk about how this particular type of internal collaboration won a new customer for Nordea:
One example is a lead from one of the employees in the team that was passed on to the colleagues in the corporate business. After a few meetings with advisers and specialists, including a presentation of our concept Nordea@Work, the company decided to switch banks to Nordea. "Today, the owners are so satisfied that the change of bank was even mentioned in their annual report."
The most important industries in Kiruna are mining, space and tourism. In fact, 2024 was all-time high for the Kiruna area with 600,000 overnight stays. Located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, Kiruna offers experiences such as the midnight sun, an ice hotel – and a city on the move. For example, this summer, the city’s church from 1912 will be loaded onto a trailer and moved to its new location. The move is expected to take two days.