Kuntarahoitus

Kuntarahoitus Oyj, variously branded Municipal Finance[1] or Municipality Finance[2] or MuniFin[3] in English, is a public financial institution in Finland and the country's third-largest credit institution by total assets,[4] behind Nordea and OP.

Kuntarahoitus plays a central role in financing local government in Finland. It is the first Finnish green and social bond issuer.[5] Its customers are Finnish municipalities, municipal associations, municipal-owned enterprises, and public-benefit housing companies that engage in state-supported social housing production and are approved by the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA). As of end-2022, it had €48 billion in total assets.

Kuntarahoitus has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since October 2020.[6]

Overview

Kuntarahoitus was established in 2001 by merger of two predecessor entities, the so-called the old Kuntarahoitus Oy (est. 1990) and Kuntien Asuntoluotto Oyj. As of the mid-2010s, it financed around 80 percent of municipal debt in Finland.[7]

In late 2015, Kuntarahoitus has been designated as a Significant Institution under European Banking Supervision, and has been subsequently supervised by the European Central Bank.[8]

Kuntarahoitus has approximately 284 shareholders, including municipalities (53 percent in aggregate), the national pension agency Keva (31 percent), and the Finnish government (16 percent).[5] It is mainly funded by securities issuance, for which it benefits from the same rating as the Finnish government thanks to a guarantee provided by the Municipal Guarantee Board (MGB, ).

In both 2021 and 2022, Kuntarahoitus won the municipality green bond of the year award from Environmental Finance, a specialized publication.[9]

See also

• Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten
• Crédit Communal de Belgique
• SFIL
• List of banks in the euro area
• List of banks in Finland