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Scandinavia's MeritaNordbanken is making up for its size by setting a world-class pace for Internet and mobile-phone banking

Tony Lewis / Getty

A woman uses the internet to access her bank account in Helsinki, Finland.

From the outside, Meritanordbanken in Helsinki looks like a typical staid European bank. Merita's ornate headquarters hall, with its rose marble columns and gilded cornices, harks back to the 19th century, when the Czar of Russia still ruled Finland. But don't be fooled. Behind the historic decor, Merita has become one of the world's most advanced banks, using the Internet and mobile phones to conduct most of its business. Some 1.2 million of its customers use the Web to bank, a world record, while only 6% of the institution's transactions are processed through a traditional branch. What's more, Merita has taken...

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