Nordea Bank Abp
Stock exchange release – Inside information
5 November 2025 at 09.00 EET
Nordea has updated its strategy and set new financial targets for the period 2026–30. Nordea’s strategy is aimed at delivering superior earnings per share growth, driven by profitable, faster-than-market income growth and significant improvements in cost efficiency.
Nordea’s priorities for its 2026–30 strategy period are to
- grow faster than the market while sustaining high profitability
- lead with a compelling customer offering and the best digital experience
- deliver Nordic scale benefits for superior competitiveness and efficiency.
Technology, data and AI are at the heart of Nordea’s strategic plan and will be critical in delivering scale benefits. These in turn will lead to better customer experiences, growth and efficiency.
“Six years ago, we set out to change our direction: to fix the basics and make Nordea competitive by truly putting customers first. Today, Nordea is in great shape. The next chapter will be about growth in our four home markets and using our scale and technology to create even more value for our customers, shareholders and the Nordic region. By delivering on our strategic priorities, we aim to be the best-performing financial services group in the Nordics,” says President and Group CEO Frank Vang-Jensen.
Financial targets
Nordea’s financial targets for the new strategy period are
- a return on equity of above 15% throughout the period and significantly above in 2030
- a cost-to-income ratio of 40–42% in 2030, excluding regulatory fees.
These targets will be supported by
- annual loan losses of around 10bp
- a 60–70% annual dividend payout ratio
- semi-annual dividend distributions, with the interim distribution based on 50% of the first-half profits for the financial year and paid after the half-year results, in late July or early August, and the remainder paid following the Annual General Meeting
- more than EUR 20bn in total shareholder distributions during 2026-30
- a 150bp management buffer above the regulatory Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital requirement, with an expected CET1 ratio of approximately 15.5% throughout the period.
Based on these targets, Nordea’s ambition is to deliver earnings per share of around EUR 2 in 2030.
Six growth areas
Following successive years of strong performance, Nordea is well positioned to raise its ambition for profitable growth. Nordea will target profitable growth in each of its businesses. In support of this, special focus will be applied to six areas with particularly high potential for Nordea: Norway and Sweden, as geographic markets where Nordea sees ample room to grow, building on strong business momentum; cross-sales, to deepen relationships and engagement with Nordea’s broad base of existing customers; and life and pensions, private banking and small businesses – segments that have a strong growth outlook.
Nordic scale and technology, data and AI: central to sustained high performance
The Nordic countries provide a solid foundation for Nordea’s growth. As Europe’s most resilient economies, with the best financial services markets and higher growth forecasts than the euro area, they offer a uniquely attractive operating environment. The Nordic societies are built on trust and a strong culture of learning, innovation and entrepreneurship, and are underpinned by strong social safety nets. Together, these factors create lasting political and economic stability.
Nordea is the largest financial services group in the region, with leading positions in each of its home markets. Its scale is a key source of competitive advantage. In the next phase, Nordea will make even greater use of that scale – to serve customers better and operate more efficiently. Nordea has already realised scale benefits in its business diversification, core banking operations and digital transformation. The next step is to drive scale in other parts of the business, including four key product areas: mortgages, corporate lending, savings, and payments. By increasing automation, Nordea aims to achieve a step change in efficiency in these areas.
Technology, data and AI will be central to this shift. They will enable Nordea to turn local processes into Nordic-wide ones, reduce platforms and applications, modernise legacy systems, and increase engineering productivity. These changes will also make Nordea’s technology even more resilient and secure.
Continued capital excellence
Nordea will continue to deliver capital excellence. The Group’s capital position has been among the strongest in Europe for several years, supported by stronger financial performance, solid capital generation and disciplined capital management. At the end of the third quarter of 2025 Nordea’s CET1 ratio stood at 15.9%. Nordea expects to maintain robust capital generation, which will enable business growth, potential bolt-on acquisitions, and continued significant shareholder distributions, including through semi-annual dividends.
“Nordea is entering its new strategy period in a position of strength. We have structurally improved our profitability and strengthened the Nordea franchise in many areas. For the upcoming period, we will continue to build on our strengths and business momentum. Importantly, we are committed to turning Nordea’s scale benefit into a competitive advantage for good. We will grow income faster than both the market and our cost base, driving superior competitiveness and efficiency through clearly defined initiatives that cut across Nordea’s core business processes and technology. As a result, we expect to limit average annual cost growth to around 2% over the period 2026–30, compared with 2025 levels,” says Group CFO Ian Smith.
Supporting customers’ sustainable transitions
Nordea remains strongly committed to supporting customers with their sustainability transitions. Nordea has strengthened its work in this area and has fully embedded sustainability into its business – in customer offerings, processes and operations. Nordea has delivered well on its near-term sustainability targets and remains focused on delivering on its medium- and long-term commitments.
Capital Markets Day webcast and additional materials
Nordea will present its updated strategic priorities and new financial targets at its Capital Markets Day, which starts at 14.00 EET (13.00 CET) today. The event will be webcast live and the presentation materials will be published at nordea.com/investors. A recording will be available after the event.
For further information:
Ilkka Ottoila, Head of Investor Relations, +358 9 5300 7058
Ulrika Romantschuk, Head of Brand, Communication and Marketing, +358 10 416 8023
The information provided in this stock exchange release was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contacts set out above, at 09.00 EET (08.00 CET) on 5 November 2025.
Nordea is a leading Nordic financial services group and the preferred choice for millions of customers across the region. For more than 200 years, we have proudly served as a trusted financial partner for individuals, families and businesses – enabling dreams and aspirations for a greater good. Our vision is to be the best-performing financial services group in the Nordics, accelerating through our scale, people and technology. The Nordea share is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Copenhagen and Nasdaq Stockholm exchanges.