Aiming higher – new target for 2025

For Nordea, 2021 was a successful year. Our business volumes grew and we gained market shares across the Nordics. We continued to develop our omnichannel model and drove high levels of customer activity in both digital and in-person meetings.

Sustainability is at the core of our strategy, and supporting our customers in the transition towards net zero is a key focus area. I’m happy that we were again ranked among the top 100 most sustainable corporations in the world by Corporate Knights – the only Nordic bank in the ranking.

Our 2021 operating profit was over EUR 4.9bn, 67% higher than in 2020. Both mortgage lending and lending to small and medium-sized enterprises increased by 6% and assets under management grew by 17%, reaching all-time-high levels. We continued to gain market shares across the Nordic region.

Our capital strength is among the best in Europe, which means we can support our customers and pay out dividends. Our Board has proposed a dividend of approximately EUR 0.69 per share for 2021. Dividends are important for our more than 500,000 shareholders and benefit the Nordic societies by driving economic activity.

I’m proud to say that we surpassed our 2022 financial targets, one year ahead of schedule. This is an important milestone, which we could not have achieved without our skilled, passionate and dedicated employees. I want to thank them all for their great efforts. I would also like to thank all our customers and shareholders for their very good cooperation over the past few years.

Now we will move forward to deliver best-in-class omnichannel customer experiences, raise the bar on our financial performance and drive further value creation for our shareholders. We want to be the preferred partner for Nordic customers in need of a broad range of financial services.

Our new target for 2025 is ambitious – yet realistic. We are targeting a return on equity above 13%, supported by a cost-to-income ratio of 45–47%, complemented by unchanged dividend and capital policy. I am confident that with hard work we will meet the target, and look forward to sharing more details about our plan at our Capital Markets Day on 17 February.

While we have a new target and an updated business plan, our direction as a bank is not going to change. For more than 200 years we have played a key role in supporting our customers and developing the Nordic societies. That will be our role going forward as well.