Corporate governance framework

External framework

The external framework that regulates corporate governance includes EU law, such as Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD IV), Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II) and Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 (MiFIR), as well as rules and guidelines issued by
the relevant financial supervisory authorities, such as the EBA Guidelines on Internal Governance and the Joint ESMA and EBA Guidelines on the assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key function holders, as well as national level laws, including the Finnish Companies Act, the Finnish Act on Credit Institutions, the Finnish Accounting Act and the relevant FIN-FSA regulations and guidelines. Nordea also complies with rules and guidelines issued by other relevant financial supervisory authorities as well as EU legislation for the financial industry, stock exchange rules for each relevant stock exchange and the rules and principles of the Code.

The Code can be found on the Securities Market Association’s webpage, https://cgfinland.fi/en/corporate-governance-code/

Internal framework

The Board has adopted instructions for the President and Group CEO specifying his responsibilities as well as other charters, policies and instructions for the operations of the Nordea Group. Furthermore, Nordea’s Code of Conduct provides an ethical framework for the conduct of all members of governing bodies and employees.  

These mechanisms, together with the Articles of Association, the Charter and the Committee Charters as well as applicable directives, instructions and policies of the Nordea Group, constitute the internal framework that regulates corporate governance at Nordea.

The internal framework is designed to enable the prudent conduct of business by defining the powers and responsibilities of the corporate bodies and employees.

See more about the Charter and the Committee Charters here.

Application of code

Nordea is subject to and applies the Finnish Corporate Governance Code 2020 (the Code). All the recommendations of the Code are complied with, apart from the appointment procedure for electing employee representatives to the Board (the Code, Recommendation 5), as described further below.

The appointment procedure for the employee representatives to the Board deviates from Recommendation 5 “Election of the Board of Directors” of the Code. The reason for this deviation is an agreement on employee representation entered into by Nordea and an employee representation body under the Finnish Act on Employee Involvement in European Companies and European Social Cooperatives as well as the Finnish Act on Personnel Representation in the Company Administration in connection with the cross-border merger effectuating the redomiciliation to Finland in 2018.

Nordea complies with the Code of its domicile as well as other applicable governance rules and regulations, and this Corporate Governance Statement is prepared in accordance with these requirements. The Code deviates in certain aspects from the Swedish Corporate Governance Code (the Swedish Code) and the Danish Recommendations on Corporate Governance (the Danish Code) due to differences in legislation and corporate governance rules and practices. The Swedish Code, available at corporategovernanceboard.se, deviates in certain aspects from the Code in terms of decision proposals of the nomination committee, process for decisions on remuneration for the executive management and content of the Remuneration Report. The Danish Code, available at corporategovernance.dk, deviates in certain aspects from the Code in terms of appointment of an audit committee chair, management remuneration and performance evaluation of the board of directors as well as recommendations regarding takeover bids, corporate social responsibility, tax policy and the charter of the board of directors. The Danish Code also deviates in certain aspects regarding the overall tasks and responsibilities of the board of directors, the annual review of guidelines, the appointment of a vice chair and the independence of directors as well as the temporary division of duties and whistleblower schemes.

The Board consists of 13 ordinary members and one deputy member. Of these Board members, ten (five men and five women) were elected by the AGM held on 24 March 2022, and three ordinary members and one deputy member (two men and two women) were appointed by the employees of the Nordea Group.