OP Financial Group turned 120 years old on 14 May 2022. To mark the anniversary, OP Cooperative’s Board of Directors decided to establish OP Ryhmän Historiasäätiö sr (Historical Foundation of OP Financial Group). A new OP Museum will be opened in OP Vallila in October 2022.
The historical foundation manages OP Financial Group’s historically valuable archived materials, part of which will be transferred to the Central Archives for Finnish Business Records (Elka). This will give researchers access to the parts of the archives they need. The foundation will also digitise and catalogue the archives’ contents and historical photos. Museum objects received by the foundation will be catalogued and entered in a collections management system. All selected objects showcase the history of, and changes in, cooperative banking, society and people’s work and life.
We regard our strong roots and role in building Finnish society as strengths which we mean to preserve. “The new foundation ensures that OP Financial Group’s story and the history of Finnish cooperative banks are shared with future generations,” says Timo Ritakallio, Chair of the Historical Foundation’s Board of Trustees and President and Group CEO of OP Financial Group.
OP Museum
The OP Museum is a showcase for the historical foundation. Its permanent exhibition tells the story of cooperative banking and its impact since the early twentieth century, while looking towards the financial sector’s future.
OP Museum shows that the history of OP Financial Group is part of the history of Finland’s welfare society. The museum seeks to increase understanding of the connection between wellbeing, welfare, finances and the economy.
Its temporary exhibition focuses on the history of work, displaying the everyday tools once used to make work smoother.