The Finnish mutual fund and share ownership project

Aalto Ownership Lab

The Finnish mutual fund and share ownership project

This project documents patterns and trends in ownership of mutual funds and stocks in Finland, compares them to those in other countries, and studies the take-up of the stock savings account (SSA).

Executive summary

This project contains three related research streams that study mutual fund and share ownership in Finland and around the world.

The Nordic Ownership Miracle highlights and explains an underappreciated feature that distinguishes Nordic countries from others. Sweden, Finland, and Denmark have some of the highest household stock market participation rates around the world. Perhaps surprisingly, the egalitarian Nordic countries host the world's most widespread household capitalism.

Mutual fund and share ownership, 2009-2023 documents patterns and trends in ownership of mutual funds and stocks in Finland. 47% of Finnish households held these securities in 2023. The top 1% of the population holds 63% of total wealth in 2023. This wealth share has decreased by 7 percentage points in 2009-2023.

Who opens a stock savings account in Finland? studies the stock savings account (SSA) introduced in January 2020. SSA adoption corresponds to 4% of individuals and 7% of households. SSA investors are younger, more likely to be male, more urban, and more highly educated than other investors and the population.