When 48,000 University students in the Nordic region ranked their ideal employer, Nordea is ranked as number 4 and is the most attractive employer for business students when it comes to financial companies.

The same ranking also shows that Nordea together with IKEA are the only Nordic companies on the top 10-list. See the complete ranking .

This ranking is delivered by the global employer branding company, Universum who on an annual basis asks Nordic students about their career and work life expectations as well as employer preferences. This survey has been open for participation between October 2012 – March 2013 and almost 48,000 students from the top Universities in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have replied.

When breaking down the Nordic result, we are happy to see a positive trend where Denmark, Finland and Sweden climbs up in the ranking while Norway keeps its position from last year. In Finland Nordea has moved from position 6 to number 1.

Most attractive employers in the Nordics 2013: Top 10 among Business students
1. Ernst & Young
2. PwC
3. KPMG
4. Nordea
5. Microsoft
6. McKinsey & Company
7. L’Oréal
8. Deloitte
9. The Boston Consulting Group
10. IKEA

In order to meet its financial targets and according to its strategy to concentrate on markets where it can deliver a superior customer experience and significant scale benefits based on a leading market position, Nordea has decided to divest its Polish banking, financing and life insurance operations to the largest Polish bank, PKO Bank Polski.

- The divestment is a rational structural change supporting our strategy to build the future relationship bank. In the consolidating Polish banking market, it would require significant investments to reach a competitive scale. We have instead chosen to focus our resources and capital on the further development of the bank in our other markets, says Group CEO of Nordea Christian Clausen.

- We have built a strong business in Poland over the last ten years, with a modern and well-located branch network, more than 600,000 gold and premium household customers and a strong portfolio of corporate clients. The credit quality is strong and the business has been profitable in every single quarter. But the financial industry in Poland is changing, says Christian Clausen, pointing to both new regulatory requirements and the structural development in the market.

- The Polish banking market is consolidating. The competitive landscape will change in favour of large banks with scale in the market. Nordea Bank Polska is currently the twelfth largest bank in the country, and we would have to make large investments in the coming years to be competitive. At the same time the new requirements from the Polish authorities make it increasingly challenging for us to pursue our uniform operating model, and eventually meet our financial targets in the Polish business, says Christian Clausen.

Against this background, divesting the Polish business to PKO Bank Polski is a natural step for all parties.

- It is a win-win-win deal. For Nordea, the transaction will contribute positively to Nordea’s long-term financial goals and enable us to continue to develop business and services. The deal will also have a positive impact on our ROE and group capital level. The Polish customers and employees will become part of a leading Polish bank. The buyer, PKO Bank Polski, will become even better positioned to further develop their activities in a consolidating Polish market, says Christian Clausen.

- This transaction is a part of the execution of Nordea’s strategy. We remain committed to shaping the future relationship bank, built on the stability that can only be created by top league return on equity, a solid capital base and low volatility. The divestment is well aligned with the implementation of the plan to deliver strong profitability in all areas, units and segments of the bank, says Christian Clausen.

Read the press release

- We have built a strong business in Poland over the last ten years. The divestment is a rational structural change for all parties involved. It will contribute positively to Nordea’s long-term financial goals and enable us to continue to develop business and services. At the same time our customers and employees in Poland will become part of a leading Polish bank, says President and Group CEO of Nordea Christian Clausen.

The transaction is expected to lead to a minor capital gain and profit and loss effect. In addition, it has a positive impact on the Nordea Group’s core tier 1 ratio of approximately 50 bp, of which approximately half is expected to be realised immediately on closing of the transaction[2].

Over the last years, stricter governance and operational practices have been imposed on Polish banks, including a requirement to list at least 25 per cent of their shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Nordea Bank Polska today has a free float of 0.8 per cent. These practices make it increasingly challenging to pursue Nordea’s uniform operating model which is used across all other markets. At the same time it would take significant investments to reach the scale needed in the future consolidating Polish banking market.

- This transaction is a part of the execution of Nordea’s strategy. We remain committed to shaping the future relationship bank, built on the stability that can only be created by top league return on equity, a solid capital base and low volatility. The divestment is well aligned with the implementation of the plan to deliver strong profitability in all areas, units and segments of the bank, says Christian Clausen.

The transaction is expected to be completed during 2013 and is subject to regulatory approvals. Until then, customers will continue to be serviced by Nordea Bank Polska as part of the Nordea Group.

PKO Bank Polski will launch a public tender offer for the shares in Nordea Bank Polska S.A. in compliance with local stock exchange regulations.

As a result of the transaction, the Nordea Group expects to report its Polish operations as discontinued operations from the Q2 report.

The Nordea Operations Centre in Lodz and the Polish pension fund company will not be affected by the transaction.

 
For further information:
Rodney Alfvén, Head of Investor Relations, +46 8 614 7880
Claus Christensen, Group Identity & Communications, +45 25 24 89 93

[1] Of which approximately EUR 5m will be attributable to the minority shareholders of Nordea Bank Polska S.A., based on a current PLN/EUR rate of 4.08.
[2] Nordea will provide transitional risk sharing and funding with an insignificant impact on the Group’s profit and loss statement. The remaining part of the benefit to core tier 1 capital will be realised as the risk sharing and funding support ends. The majority of the positive capital impact is due to the release of risk-weighted assets at the time of the transaction and the subsequent release of the capital allocated to the transitional risk sharing and funding.

Helge J Pedersen, Global Chief Economist, Nordea

In Nordea’s latest Economic Outlook, released on Tuesday, the growth forecasts for Finland and Denmark have been revised down due to the weaker international economic trends. The forecasts for Sweden are largely maintained relative to the March forecasts, but trends in Norway are expected to be weaker next year than previously assumed.

What is the outlook for the world economy right now?
Although the world economy is recovering, the healing process is very slow, and at the moment there is very little tailwind to help it along. Notably Europe has in light of the tight fiscal policy and initiated structural reforms found it hard to get economic growth off the ground.

We have recently had to lower our 2013 and 2014 growth estimates for the Euro zone quite sharply by 0.4% point in both years. The slowdown in Europe has also affected China, which is currently taking a double whammy on the export front. That is why we have lowered our expectations for the Chinese economy this year, while we stick to our forecast for Japan so far.

This is also the case for the US, although the economy has shown signs of weakness lately due to fiscal policy tightening. Against this background, we have revised down our 2013 and 2014 forecasts for the global economy by about ¼% point. We now look for growth in 2013 of 3.3%, accelerating to 4.1% in 2014. 
How about the Nordic countries?

As the Nordic countries are all small, open economies vulnerable to the weak international economic trends, we have had to revise down our growth forecasts for Finland and Denmark, while we largely maintain our forecasts for Norway and Sweden relative to our March forecasts at least for this year.

Why are economic trends in the Nordic countries this different?
The Danish economy is hit both by the housing market crisis and the international downturn which have caused an almost 4-year long intermission with economic growth around zero. The economic performance in Finland is weakened by weak international and domestic demand. The Swedish economy stagnated at the end of 2012 and although GDP recovered in Q1 2013, it contained signs of weakness.

Private consumption in Sweden is seen as the main driving force this year as well as next year as households benefit from rising wages, low inflation and tax cuts. In line with expectations, GDP growth in Norway’s mainland economy picked up nicely in Q1, supporting our belief that the dent in growth in Q4 was temporary in Norway, which has been the growth star of the Nordics in recent years.

Read the press release
Read the report on nordeamarkets.com

- All in all, the Nordic economies combined will grow by 1.2% this year, rising to 2% in 2014. This is still significantly ahead of the Euro-zone economy, which looks set to decline by 0.4% this year and only expand by 1% in 2014, says Nordea’s Global Chief Economist Helge J. Pedersen.

The Swedish economy stagnated at the end of 2012. Although GDP recovered in Q1 2013, the data contained signs of weakness such as rising inventories. Private consumption is seen as the main driving force this year as well as next year as households benefit from rising wages, low inflation and tax cuts. Employment continues to grow, but not enough to prevent unemployment from remaining at elevated levels. The Riksbank watches household indebtedness and will not cut rates despite low inflation and high unemployment. The next move will be a rate hike in 2014.

In line with expectations GDP growth in Norway’s mainland economy picked up nicely in Q1, supporting our belief that the dent in growth in Q4 was temporary. Still, unemployment has increased somewhat and wage growth looks set to be slightly lower than expected. We have therefore revised down our forecast for consumption growth, and investment activity now also looks set to be weaker than previously projected. Against the backdrop of lower production and wage growth and higher unemployment, we do not look for a rate hike until late in 2014.

The Danish economy is struggling with the effects of an almost 4-year long intermission with activity growth around zero. However, we expect this sideways trend to be replaced by moderately accelerating growth later this year and especially into 2014. The pick-up will be mainly driven by rising domestic demand, with higher consumer spending and mounting investment activity

The short-term outlook for the Finnish economy is weakened by the lack of both international and domestic demand, and the labour market is expected to deteriorate throughout the year. Towards the end of 2013, exports are expected to recover following a pick-up in world trade volumes. In 2014 exports, investment and private consumption alike should gradually gather more momentum.

Note that we have changed our calculation methodology for global economic growth to match the IMF’s methodology. Consequently, the growth forecasts in this issue of Economic Outlook are not comparable to those in earlier versions.

For further information:
Helge J. Pedersen, Global Chief Economist, +45 33 33 31 26

Read the report on nordeamarkets.com

Holger Sandte, Euro macro-analyst, Nordea Markets

Tight fiscal policy by way of spending cuts and tax increases is one of the key reasons why the Euro area struggles to get out of recession. Expectations for a return to growth next year are usually based on the premise 1) that the world economy provides support for exports and 2) that the worst part of the fiscal adjustment is over.

Recently, the European Commission accorded more time to several countries to lower deficits below three per cent of GDP. So, will fiscal policy provide a boost to growth or will it at least be less of a drag?

Read the full analysis by Euro Economist Holger Sandte on nordeamarkets.com.

Henrik Lundin, Chief Strategist

- The recoil was healthy, and no major conclusions should be drawn from it because there was nothing fundamental underlying the sharp decline. The performance of the late spring had, quite simply, been too fast and furious. Before the drop, the Tokyo exchange had gained over 25% in just two months and around 50% since the turn of the year. One-way movements never usually have a happy ending, and there were no doubt many who saw fit to push the sell button when the decline accelerated, says Henrik Lundin, Chief Strategist at Nordea.

Japan has been contending with substantial headwinds for the past 20 years with a stagnating economy, declining equity prices, deflation and political instability. On top of that, an appreciating yen has curbed the country’s major export sector.

- The last six months have seen a break in the trend on many of these fronts, which may certainly continue. In the slightly longer-term perspective, I still believe that Japan has firm fundamentals to outperform other markets.

When Shinzo Abe was elected new Prime Minister at the end of last year, the programme was clear. Together with the central bank, the government would breathe life into the economy and there would be no holding back. Money supply would be doubled in the space of two years and the inflation target was raised to 2% for the same period.

- The government plans to achieve this through a series of reforms, deregulation and investment. The central bank will assist in the process through massive purchases of assets, including government bonds, equities and real estate. It’s hard to say whether they will succeed or not. Although it’s a gigantic experiment in many ways, it’s far too early to write it off as a failure. The secret largely lies in the currency. A weaker yen would involve higher company profits, a better economy and a lower risk of deflation.

Since November last year, the yen has depreciated by around 25–30% against most currencies, in turn contributing to better economic statistics, sharply hiked profit forecasts and rising inflationary expectations.

- Looking at the performance of the Japanese equity market requires perspective. The Tokyo exchange has dropped 10% in a week, risen 40% this year, but is 65% lower than it was at the beginning of the 1990s.

Gunn Waersted, Head of Wealth Management at Nordea

- It is encouraging to welcome new Private Banking clients. It serves as motivation to strive for our vision of being the preferred Private Bank across all markets – acknowledged for our people and for creating superior value for our customers, says Gunn Wærsted, Head of Nordea Wealth Management.

The number of Nordea Private Banking clients has doubled over the past ten years.
The growing number of clients has been accompanied by a positive trend in customer satisfaction. In all Nordic markets the Customer Satisfaction Index among Private Banking clients increased in the latest index in 2012.

Read more about Nordea Private Banking in:
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Finland

Casper von Koskull, head of Wholesale banking at Nordea

On May 23rd Casper von Koskull, Executive Vice President, Head of Wholesale Banking will be speaking at the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Annual General Meeting and Conference.

This year’s event takes place in Copenhagen and Nordea Markets will be participating as a GOLD sponsor and of course be present during the whole AGM.

ICMA is a unique trade association and an influential voice for the global capital markets. It represents a broad range of capital market interests including global investment banks and smaller regional banks, as well as asset managers, exchanges, central banks, law firms and other professional advisers.
 
Over 800 international participants were present at ICMA’s most recent AGM and Conference which took place in Milan, in May 2012. As in previous years the quality of the event and high-calibre speakers attracted representation at a very senior level.

Liisa Jauri, head of CSR at Nordea

Nordea is among the most sustainable banks in the Nordic countries according to surveys conducted by Sustainable Brand Index. In Sweden Nordea shows a clear positive trend. In all Nordic countries we are among the top financial brands and moving up.

“Increasing awareness and our persistent work with systematically improving the responsibility in our core business have led to our position as one of the most responsible banking brands in the Nordics. We are working with our responsible lending, our products and services, our own operations, our supply chain, teaching teenagers responsible finances and not least our responsible investments with positive screening. Overall, we have a long way to go but we are happy to see our strategy is paying off, says Liisa Jauri, Head of CSR at Nordea.”

Awareness of sustainability increasing
The surveys were conducted in all four Nordic countries separately, and consumers were asked their opinion about the environmental and sustainability performance of companies in a variety of sectors.
Interest and awareness of sustainability issues are growing among consumers. Demands are likely to increase.

Nordea’s strategy of systematically integrating sustainability with business takes time but is solid.
This is the first year the survey is conducted in Denmark, Finland and Norway and the third year in Sweden. In each country 1000 consumers were asked about banks. Below you can see the results.

Results for Sweden

Results for Norway

Results for Denmark

Results for Finland