From its base in Luxembourg, Nordea Bank S.A. continued to expand its activities in International Private Banking and Global Fund Distribution, thereby increasing both inflow and profits.
| EUR '000 | 2013 | 2012 | Change |
| Net interest income | 43,251 | 41,992 | 3.0% |
| Net fee and commission income | 154,992 | 109,230 | 41.9% |
| Total operating expenses | (106,293) | (99,453) | 6.9% |
| Profit for the year (after tax) | 68,997 | 51,744 | 33.3% |
Nordea Bank S.A. consists of Nordea International Private Banking and Nordea Global Fund Distribution. The two business areas were able to attract new customers, and increased inflow of capital, and reached EUR 22.5 billion in assets under management last year. The bank remains financially strong, with capital and reserves growing to EUR 367 million, and the core tier 1 capital ratio increased to 14.37% at the end of year 2013.
Strengthened Wealth Planning offerings
Nordea International Private Banking’s business model was further developed to service the needs of demanding private banking clients. Not least the value proposition in wealth planning was developed further and is now fully integrated within our range of services to international clients. “To support our leading position in wealth planning, all our client-facing staff completed wealth-planning and cross-border training during 2013 and are now certified to operate in our core markets. An important step in supporting the Bank’s growth strategy was the opening of a branch in Singapore to serve the growing community of wealthy Nordic individuals residing in Asia, with private banking services developed out of Luxembourg,” says Jhon Mortensen, CEO of Nordea Bank S.A.
Significant inflows into multi-boutique fund palette
Global Fund Distribution, headquartered in Luxembourg, continued to generate significant inflows from various European and overseas markets into the 65 sub-funds of the Nordea 1 SICAV, which is the core vehicle of the Nordea Group for distribution purposes. “In 2013, net flows reached more than EUR 2 billion, matching 2012’s record levels, to make it one of the best years ever. Global Fund Distribution was able to continue its diversification of assets into a host of different products. Of particular note was the positive development of net new flows into the Nordea 1 – Stable Return Fund, where assets rose from EUR 129m at the beginning of the year to almost EUR 837m by year-end,” comments Christophe Girondel, Head of Global Fund Distribution.
Leading Nordic pan-European private bank
Founded in 1976, Nordea’s international private banking activities are centred in Luxembourg. Nordea International Private Banking is the largest Nordic bank in Luxembourg, employing a multilingual staff of some 400 people who serve an international clientele in 120 countries throughout the world.
The Nordea Group has a very strong capital base and benefits from an excellent credit rating (AA-), and is the leading financial services provider in the Nordic area. For six consecutive years, Nordea was named the best provider of private banking services in the Nordic & Baltic region by the international financial magazine Euromoney. Nordea is among the ten largest universal banks in Europe in terms of total market capitalisation.
(Source: Nordea)