Comments on: Svalbard: World’s Northernmost Bank To Close

By: Me

Me — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 06:45:46 +0000

It’s too bad the Norwegian Postal System does not provide banking services, as they are often located in remote areas. We have the same issues in the Canadian arctic.

By: Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 11:10:34 +0000

I don't know if you have an equivalent institution under Norwegian law to the Credit Union, but we have many of these in the United States. They are essentially a member owned local bank-type institution with restricted membership based on an employee group, town of residence, or so on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_union Perhaps starting something like that would solve the problem (and keep profits in the community).

By: Gishanthi Arambepola

Gishanthi Arambepola — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 08:57:25 +0000

It is not a surprise that they will have to fly 1.5 hour to visit bank because though I live in mainland I have to take flight or train ca. 4 hours if I have to visit my bank in person. I use Nordea and they don’t have branches everywhere.

By: G C Weller

G C Weller — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 07:06:11 +0000

Unfortunately banks nowadays see individual customers and sme’s as more of a nuisance, and the minimal cost of keeping a branch running will generate more income in share transactions.
Government needs to provide legislation to ensure banks do not close local branches where there is no close alternative.
This is happening throughout Europe!
Customers simply don’t matter any more!

By: Jamal Qureshi

Jamal Qureshi — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 22:42:37 +0000

As a citizen of Longyearbyen, I can tell you that SpareBank’s cruel attempt to shut down our vital community institution – which is highly profitable just as the bank as a whole is highly profitable – is going to fail. The community is organizing from the grassroots to the political to the local business levels. I do not use this word lightly, but Mr. Loftås is a liar. The bank executives who are attempting to shut our community’s lifeline down have not as he claimed acquired any meaningful local customer knowledge. The entire community was kept in the dark, not asked to explain our needs before decisions were madd, and the local bank manager and employees only learned about this decision when it was announced.

SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge just had its best year in at least a decade by a huge margin in 2019, making kr 2,7 billion in profit. And their executive-bonus-feeding gravy train hasn’t slowed down this year with their 2Q earnings in the middle of the pandemic up 31% versus solid 1Q profitability. Their 2Q earnings call was practically a giant party celebrating how much money they are making and forecasting to continue making.

Meanwhile in Longyearbyen we keep telling them how the world’s northernmost community has entirely different needs than even any normal small town and we constantly need the local physical branch to get things done. They are a 60 year old integral part of making our community function. All SpareBank executives dish back are generic PR points that sound like they could have been written by an analyst sitting half a world away at JP Morgan. Who are along with State Street one of the biggest shareholders in SpareBank 1 Nord Norge which is majority owned by international banks, funds, and millionaires, with at least 29% foreign ownership.

Basically this is a case of raw corporate greed, seeking to somehow “save” a small portion of a kr 40 million target (1.5% of last year’s profits) by shutting down a profitable branch. The entire Longyearbyen community is rallying around our local bank branch to save it from these out of touch executives seeking to line their own pockets even as they keep spouting their lies about caring for the communities they claim to serve. We are united to stop them.