In just three years, Pierluigi Antico has progressed from graduate to Senior Analyst at Nordea Stockholm. His story reflects the environment at Nordea - where people are encouraged to explore Nordea’s vast development opportunities and grow towards their aspirations.
What’s the boldest move you’ve made in your career? For Pierluigi Antico, it was pitching himself for a mentorship with Nordea’s CFO of Personal Banking during his first days on the job as a Graduate.
"I prepared one slide where I wrote everything I wanted to learn and proposed it. I got a positive response within ten minutes.”
That single initiative perfectly embodies Pierluigi’s approach to personal development: to be bold, prepared, and unapologetically ambitious. His ultimate goal is to become a CFO himself, and he feels he is well on track to get there.
Pierluigi recognises the initial graduate program’s rotation system as a key driver for his personal development. Over three four-month stints, he worked with different teams, getting to know different colleagues, and deepening his understanding of the bank’s operations and solutions.
“You have the chance to learn from experts, review the materials and tasks they work on, and maybe take on a project for that period. You’re like a sponge for 4 months. I wanted to learn from every single team member.”
The mentorship set off another positive snowball effect that opened up new opportunities for Pierluigi. Through his mentor, he secured a week-long project with the CFO of Personal Banking in Norway, for profitability studies.
“I was lucky enough that he prioritised that week for me and included me in other interesting calls. It was confirmation that the role I was aspiring to was what I wanted.”
At Nordea, personal development is guided by the “70-20-10 framework”. Employees are the drivers of their career while the leaders play a key role in supporting their development and growth through continuous Performance, Learning and Development (PLD) dialogues.
For Pierluigi, this approach came to life during one of his most challenging projects: standardising capital reporting across multiple business units.
"I wasn't prepared to run this at first because I didn't have the know-how. But through regular feedback sessions with my manager, I was able to reflect on my current performance and what could be done differently.”
The exposure to the Norwegian business also provided Pierluigi with practical insights into different markets, while giving him an understanding of Nordea's operations that he could apply back to his home role in Stockholm.
“It gave me a new understanding of the skills I’d need in my career. That was the learning opportunity I remember as the one that shaped my career most.”
Peirluigi has made the discovery that learning and development support his career journey, while uplifting colleagues, streamlining the bank’s daily operations, and ultimately delivering real benefits to customers’ lives – a win-win framework for personal development and a greater good.
For Pierluigi, the goal has been clear – to become a CFO himself. However, this has never meant just climbing up the corporate ladder. A great example is when Pierluigi wanted to learn Python programming, a skillset not directly related to his role but potentially valuable for innovation. His manager's response was immediate encouragement.
“He was like, 'Okay, then go for it. I'm going to support this, and we can reprioritise your tasks if needed.”
At Nordea, we’re committed to building the capabilities needed for the future of banking and finance – from digital skills and sustainable finance expertise to innovative thinking. Whether you want to deepen your skills in your current role, take on new responsibilities, or explore your next step, you’ll find a wealth of opportunities to grow. But it’s up to each one of us to seize those opportunities – just like Pierluigi.
“Doors are all open by default. You just have to go and turn the handle.”
People come here when they want to get somewhere. Some want to take their career to the next level. Others want to break new ground within their area of expertise.
What unites everyone is a shared will and expertise to move people, businesses and society forward – one step at a time.