Finland’s Ilmarinen, a mainstay of the country’s earnings-related pension system, is losing its president and chief executive officer, with Jouko Pölönen, having been hired by Finnish asset management and corporate finance group eQ as its new leader.
Pölönen said in a statement from the €63bn mutual pension insurance company: “It has been a privilege to lead Ilmarinen for the past seven years.”
Jorma Rauhala, chair of Ilmarinen’s board, thanked Pölönen and wished him success in his new position. “The board of directors will immediately start the recruitment process to appoint a new CEO,” he said.
In a post on LinkedIn, Pölönen said he was excited to join eQ’s “talented team”, and mentioned that he would have a significant personal financial interest in his new firm’s success because he was making a large equity investment in it.
The three largest shareholders of eQ have agreed to sell a total of 1m eQ shares to Pölönen, representing around 2.4% of eQ’s total share capital – making Pölönen one of the company’s ten largest shareholders as a result of the share sale to be completed during May.
Before starting as leader of Ilmarinen back in 2018, Pölönen was president and CEO of OP Corporate Bank – formerly Pohjola Bank – for five years.
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Rachel is IPE's Nordic correspondent.
She has long been a freelance writer, and over the years, has written for The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, AMWatch and elsewhere.
In 2001, Rachel's personal finance book Kickstart Your Money was published by John Wiley & Sons.View full Profile
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