Leadership Update: Heikki Cantell Appointed as Finnfund Board Chair

Feb 11th, 2025: Heikki Cantell, the General Counsel and Secretary General at the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), has been appointed as the new chair of the Finnfund Board of Directors. He has over 30 years of experience at publicly owned financial institutions with an impact mission.

“Finnfund´s growth has been considerable, and its role has become even more significant and versatile, the most recent being investment operations in Ukraine. In this situation, it is both particularly interesting and a great responsibility and honour to serve as the chairman of the board.”

Finnfund is a development financier and impact investor, which provides businesses operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America with risk capital, long-term investment loans, mezzanine financing and expertise in investing in developing markets.

“The geopolitical upheavals of recent times also challenge Finnfund to constantly monitor the situation and think about how to achieve impact in a profitable and effective way even in new circumstances. For example, recent development aid cuts in the United States have direct effects on Finnfund´s field of operations. Currently, there is also a reform process for the Finnfund Act, in which I hope I can be useful.”

At the NIB, Cantell is responsible for the Legal department, the functioning of the Bank’s statutory organs, and the coordination of the relationships between eight member countries and the Bank.

“Heikki Cantell´s 30-year experience with multilateral financial institutions with a special focus on how they are steered by their owners is a perfect background for chairing Finnfund’s board of directors. He is uniquely positioned to contribute to Finnfund´s mission in a meaningful and effective way. Along with the board, Finnfund’s management and staff are looking forward to working with Heikki and learning from his experience”,” says Jaakko Kangasniemi, Finnfund´s CEO.