Christian Clausen and Robert Greifeld

Nordea CEO Christian Clausen rang the opening bell on NASDAQ in New York on 9 May.

At the opening ceremony Christian Clausen talked about how the world economy has evolved since he last rang the bell in December 2010.

- Many countries still have sovereign debt problems, global growth is on the agenda and decisions on Greece’s government finances continue to affect the market. Today the situation is more stable, but the danger is not over yet, Christian Clausen said.

For American and European banks the situation has changed dramatically due to the new regulations aimed at increasing the capital of banks to avoid future financial crises.

- Banks are facing major challenges. To avoid adverse effects from the new regulations on our customers, we are looking at our costs and at ways to improve our capital efficiency.

Despite the new market environment Nordea has a stable position thanks to our strong customer focus during the financial crisis.

- Today Nordea is the market-leading bank for large corporations in the Nordics and we have increased the number of relationship customers by 40 per cent since 2010, Christian Clausen said.

The yearly Business Travel Award (BTA) ceremony takes place at the TUR fair in Gothenburg. It is based on a survey among 2866 companies. This year First Card received the award for the best payment service.

First Card is a payment service system, covering both card and travel account transactions. The target group includes private enterprises as well as public institutions. The card is a MasterCard, but it is also available as a Visa card.

First Card offers a full service system for all business expenses and it can be used in more than 30 million sales outlets worldwide.

Design by Henning Larsen Architects for new office buildings

Nordea in Denmark has decided to terminate its lease with ATP Ejendomme, which owns the building in Torvegade in the centre of Copenhagen. Some headquarter functions will move to a new location in Ørestaden by the end of 2016.

Nordea Ejendomme has made an option agreement with By og Havn in Copenhagen on the acquisition of the site for the Ørestad Nord-project.

The Danish company Henning Larsen Architects has developed the design for the new buildings. If the plan is carried out the 40.000 m2 office buildings will be ready for use in 2016. There will be room for some 1800-2200 employees and the design also includes the biggest trading floor in the Nordics.

Nordea’s Annual General Meeting decided on a directed issue of 2,679,168 C-shares to RBS and an authorisation to the Board of Directors to repurchase the C-shares. The issue and repurchase are part of the implementation of Nordea’s Long Term Incentive Programme 2012. Acquisition will be made during the period 27 April – 25 May 2012. Payment for acquired shares will be made in cash, and the price per share will be EUR 1 plus an administration fee. The price is expected to amount to approximately EUR 1.011 per share. Acquisition also includes a so-called interim share, designated by Euroclear Sweden AB as a “paid sub­scription share” (Swedish “BTA”) relating to a C-share. Nordea currently holds 18,003,281 own ordinary shares and no own C-shares or paid subscription shares relating to a C-share.

RBS has informed Nordea that it intends to accept the offer.

After all 2,679,168 C-shares have been acquired, the Board of Directors intends to convert them to ordinary shares.

 
For further information:
Steen Christensen, Group Human Resources, +45 3333 3049
Helena Östman, Group Identity and Communications, +46 8 614 84 64
 

The information in this press release is such that Nordea shall announce publicly according to Act (1991:980) regarding trading with financial instruments and/or Act (2007:528) regarding the securities market.

CEO Christian Clausen’s comment to the report:
“Nordea’s strong business momentum continues. We welcomed 22,000 new relationship customers from outside the bank, our new apps more than doubled the number of active mobile bank customers and we strengthened our market-leading position with the largest corporates in the Nordic countries.

Profitability is maintained at a high level, with ROE close to 12%. It is encouraging to see our earnings power despite low interest rates, slow growth and the comprehensive change agenda we are pursuing to build the future bank business model.

Costs are kept under strict control and we have continued to build a stronger capital position and balance sheet. In the quarter, our core tier 1 capital ratio increased by 0.4 %-point to 11.6%.”
(For further viewpoints, see CEO comments, page 2)

First quarter 2012 vs first quarter 2011 (first quarter 2012 vs fourth quarter 2011):

• Net interest income up 7% (largely unchanged)
• Operating profit up 3% (up 1%)
• Core tier 1 capital ratio increased to 11.6% excluding transition rules from 10.7%
  (up from 11.2% in the fourth quarter)
• Cost / income ratio unchanged at 50% (up from 49% in the fourth quarter)
• Net loan losses down to 26 basis points from 31 basis points
  (down from 33 in the fourth quarter)
• Return on equity 11.7%, down from 12.0% in the first quarter 2011
  (down from 12.3% in the fourth quarter)

Currency rates used for DKK, NOK and SEK for the first quarter 2012 are for income statement items 7.44, 7.59 and 8.85 respectively.

For further information:
Christian Clausen, President and Group CEO, +46 8 614 7804
Fredrik Rystedt, Group CFO, +46 8 614 7812
Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, +46 8 614 7880 (or +46 72 235 05 15)
Jan Larsson, Head of Group Identity & Communications, +46 8 614 7916 (or +46 70 593 34 12)

Go to IR Report pages

The top people in Danish finance have chosen Christian Clausen as decision-maker of the year. The award goes to a person who has set the trend and been an inspiration and role model in the sector.

Christian Clausen wins the award as he “has executed a consistent and customer-oriented strategy combined with ongoing efficiency measures” and … (he) is a modern and forward-looking leader – and not least a prominent, credible and very skilled businessman”, the jury said.

- I’m very happy to receive this award as decision-maker of the year. We’re facing the biggest changes in the banking system ever seen. The new regulation will affect every aspect of banking, and as decision-makers we face the task of creating an entirely new business model for the bank of the future, said Christian Clausen.

The vote took place among 100 participants at the conference StrategiTorvet Bank, Finans & Forsikring on 17-18 April at Hotel Comwell Borupgaard, Snekkersten in Denmark.

The nominees were:

• Tonny Thierry Andersen, Member of the Executive Board and head of Danske Bank Denmark.
• Anders Dam, Managing Director and CEO of Jyske Bank A/S
• Christian Clausen, Group CEO, Nordea A/S
• Lars Rohde, CEO of the ATP pension fund.

Please us this link to read more about the award.

The press release will be published approximately 7.00 CET.

Press and analyst conference
Time: 9.30 CET
Place: Regeringsgatan 59, Stockholm

Christian Clausen, President and Group CEO, will present the results and answer questions. The press and analyst conference as well as the following analyst meeting is conducted in English and can be viewed live on www.nordea.com where you will also be able to find the presentation material.

International telephone conference for analysts
Time: 15.30 CET
To participate: dial +44 (0)20 7784 1036, confirmation code 4158737# latest ten minutes prior (15.20 CET).

Christian Clausen, President and Group CEO, Fredrik Rystedt, Group CFO, Ari Kaperi, Group CRO, and Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, will participate. After brief management presentations a more detailed Q&A session will follow.

After the telephone conference an indexed on demand replay will be available on www.nordea.com. A replay will also be available through 1 May by dialling +44 (0)20 7111 1244 access code is 4158737#.

Analyst and investor presentation in London on 25 April
Time: 08.00 local time
Place: J.P. Morgan Cazenove Offices, 10 Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7RF

Fredrik Rystedt, Group CFO, Ari Kaperi, Group CRO, Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, and Andreas Larsson, Senior IR Officer, will be present. The presentation, including Q&A, is expected to last approximately one hour.

To attend: please contact Amy Youlden at amy.r.youlden@jpmorgan.com (+44 (0)207 134 91 38).

 
For further information:
Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, +46 8 614 7880
Jan Larsson, Head of Group Identity & Communications, +46 8 614 7916

This is the third time that Nordea participates in Earth Hour. Like last year Nordea will switch off the lights in our office buildings in all 21 countries where we operate.

In Nordea we strive to lower our energy consumption. We have already achieved reductions by:

• shutting down computers at night
• operating energy-efficient buildings. 14 head office buildings are LEED certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)
• installing motion sensors to improve light control.

Nordea focuses not only on energy consumption but also on a range of other environmental issues – read more in our CSR report .

Switching off the light for one hour is a symbolic act; the goal is not to save energy. The purpose of Earth Hour is to make us all think about how we can help reduce climate change. It is a voluntary global event organised by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF).

We encourage our employees and customers to turn off the lights during Earth Hour and we are spreading the message via our branches and on the web.