Equinor share savings programme

DNB Markets supports Equinor employees who wish to purchase shares in their own company. Here we provide information as to how you, as an employee, can do this.

To purchase shares in the Equinor savings programme, you first have to provide proof of identity and set up a VPS account. Proof of identity can be provided using BankID. The VPS account must be ordered using a form for which you can find a link below. If you do not have BankID, you can provide identification by submitting a copy of your passport.

The VPS account you get, which starts with the numbers 07915, is reserved for employees only. This must be closed if you stop working at Equinor. You will find more information on how to transfer or sell shares when ending your employment on the previous page and below.

When you confirm your identity digitally with BankID, you automatically get access to DNB’s equity trading service.

Proof of identity and opening of a VPS account:

This is how you can provide proof of identity and gain access to the equity trading service and a VPS account with BankID:

Download and fill in the form: Setting up a VPS account (PDF)
Send the completed form by email to: henri@equinor.com. For security reasons, send this from your Equinor email.
Then log in with your national identity number and BankID using the link below to the right and answer the questions (legally required).

To log in for proof of identity with BankID Click ‘Log in’ below to the right.

NOTE!You will be given access to the account that must be used in the savings programme as soon as the application has been processed. The account will start with the digits 07915.

This is how to provide proof of identity if you do not have BankID:

1. Download and fill in the following forms:

2. A certified* copy of your passport and the completed forms should be sent as an attachment to the following email address: henri@equinor.com.For security reasons, send this from your Equinor email.

*The authenticity of the passport must be certified by Notarius Publicus, the police, a lawyer, an autorized auditor or a bank.

NOTE! You will be given access to the account that must be used in the savings programme as soon as the application has been processed. The account will start with the digits 07915

Log in

Follow the daily changes in value

In DNB’s equity trading service, you can follow the changes in value as soon as you have transferred your shares to a normal VPS account*. You can also easily buy and sell shares here.

When you have confirmed your identity digitally with BankID, you get access to DNB’s equity trading service. Access is free of charge, a brokerage fee is only charged when you make a trade.

See price list

How to transfer, buy and sell?

As soon as you have transferred* you shares to a normal VPS account, you can easily sell the shares and buy new ones. In our instruction videos, we show you, among other things, how to transfer securities between your own VPS accounts.

*Note: A transfer counts as a sale, check the lock-in period and any bonus provisions before you transfer.

See our instruction videos

If you do not have a Norwegian passport, unfortunately we have to ask you to fill in some extra information to ensure that you will receive the funds due to you as a shareholder in Equinor.

For persons without a Norwegian passport/without a Norwegian national identity number

If you are not a Norwegian citizen, you must download and fill in the following forms:

Then submit the completed forms together with a copy of your passport to the internal Equinor address: PO OPR PTT, ST-FO A2, Henrik L. Høyekvam, or from an external location: Equinor ASA v/Henrik L. Høyekvam, Forusbeen 50, 4035 Stavanger. Norway

Note! Send the original printed documents by post, not by email.

Please ensure that you fill in the correct bank account details (both account number and IBAN/BIC). This is necessary to be able to transfer funds across national borders, which could be relevant, for example, for the disbursement of future dividends.

Below you will find more practical information for shareholders who do not hold a Norwegian passport.

Practical information for shareholders without a Norwegian passport

For shareholders without a Norwegian residence, the tax rate on dividends is 25 per cent. To get a reduced tax rate on dividends, you need to send a Certificate of Residence to DNB. You can get this from the tax authorities in your country of residence and it must explicitly confirm that you are a tax resident there in accordance with the tax agreement with Norway.

NOTE! This document cannot be older than three years from the date stamp on the document. The document must be renewed every three years.

People who do not have a Norwegian national identity number cannot set up the equity trading service in our online bank and therefore cannot buy and sell shares online.

If you want to sell your shares in the future, you need to use a form for selling shares (PDF, Norwegian).

When transferring to an account outside of Norway, DNB needs documentation proving that you are the rightful holder of the bank account to which the money will be transferred. An account statement from your foreign bank will confirm this.

Employee shares FAQs

Many companies specify that the shares must be owned for a certain period before they can be sold. If it is specified that you must own the shares for one year, for example, you will not be able to move or sell the shares. Any breach of the lock-in period may have consequences for you, such as having to repay the discount you were given.

In some cases, the shares will be blocked from being transferred. Others have an optional lock-in period, and the shares are allowed to be transferred. It is always your responsibility not to sell or transfer shares that have a lock-in period.

Some companies offer discounts on the shares they offer to their employees. Until 2021 inclusive, this discount was tax free. From 2022 inclusive, this discount will be added to salaries and taxed as salary income*.

However, if you buy the shares in your share savings account (ASK), you will still get deferred tax on any gains. The tax will not be realised until you take any gains out of the share savings account.

If you opened a regular VPS account when you ordered the employee shares and think it would be worth transferring them to a share savings account (ASK) afterwards, any gains achieved in the meantime will need to be taxed. This kind of transfer is thus taxable as though you were taking profits out of the share savings account (ASK).

*The AP/SP government removed the option of tax discounts for employee share purchases, with effect from the 2022 tax year.

When you take part in a share savings programme set up by your employer, you will usually NOT have to pay any costs for the actual purchase. Nor does it cost anything to open or hold a VPS account* or a share savings account (ASK). This is in contrast to when you buy shares out in the market via an equity trading platform.

For normal buying and selling, brokerage fees apply. Brokerage fees are the charges applied to execute a purchase or sale through a broker.

*For VPS accounts, an annual account management fee is only charged when the market value of the shares in the account exceeds NOK 100 000. See the full price list here.