Nordea Bank Abp Interim report (Q1 and Q3)22 April 2026 at 7.30 EET
Summary of the quarter
Return on equity 15.4%, earnings per share EUR 0.36. Nordea's return on equity for the quarter was 15.4%, compared with 15.7% a year ago, reflecting resilient performance and solid profitability in a quarter where markets were negatively impacted by the March escalation in the Middle East conflict. The cost-to-income ratio2 was 45.5% for the quarter, having been impacted by lower market making income. This compares with 43.7% a year ago. Earnings per share were EUR 0.36, up from EUR 0.35 a year ago.
Total income resilient. As expected, net interest income was down (-4%) following policy rate reductions. Net fee and commission income was up 6%, continuing the solid growth seen in previous quarters despite the impact of the market volatility in March. Net fair value result was down 22% due to lower market making income, driven by the unexpected sharp increases in EUR and SEK interest rate expectations, which led to exceptional losses across certain desks. Costs excluding items affecting comparability (EUR 190m in restructuring costs) were flat when adjusted for foreign exchange effects, which drove a 2% increase. Operating profit was up 2% at EUR 1.6bn.
Business volume growth. Mortgage lending grew by 2% year on year, driven by growth in Sweden and Norway. Corporate lending growth was strong, up 11%. Retail and corporate deposit volumes increased by 5% and 2%, respectively. Assets under management increased by 9%, to EUR 464bn.
Very strong credit quality, remaining management judgement buffer now fully deployed. Nordea's credit quality is very strong and risks have been assessed to be largely reflected in its modelled provisions without the need for additional management overlays. Thus, consistent with earlier communications, the remaining portion of Nordea's management judgement buffer, established during the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago, has now been fully deployed. Of the EUR 276m outstanding at the end of 2025, EUR 116m was reallocated to strengthen modelled provisions and EUR 160m was deemed surplus and was released, reducing net loan losses and similar net result in the first quarter. Net loan losses and similar net result consequently amounted to a reversal of EUR 99m. Excluding the EUR 160m release, net loan losses and similar net result amounted to EUR 61m (6bp).
Continued strong capital generation and share buy-backs. The CET1 ratio was 15.7% at the end of the quarter, 1.9 percentage points above the current regulatory requirement. Nordea's strong capital position and continued robust capital generation support lending growth and continued share buy-backs. The EUR 500m buy-back programme launched in the fourth quarter of 2025 had no impact on the CET1 ratio in this quarter. Nordea plans to distribute a mid-year dividend for 2026, corresponding to approximately 50% of the net profit for the first half of 2026.
Outlook for 2026 unchanged: a return on equity of greater than 15% and a cost-to-income ratio2 of around 45%. Nordea has a strong and resilient business model, with a very well-diversified portfolio across the Nordic region. This enables the Group to support its customers and deliver high-quality earnings, with high profitability and low volatility, through the economic cycle. It also enables Nordea to continue to generate capital, seek opportunities to deploy it to drive growth, and distribute excess capital to shareholders in the form of share buy-backs.
(For further viewpoints, see the CEO comment. For definitions, see page 54 in the Q1 2026 report.)
Group quarterly results and key ratios1
EURm
Q1 2026
Q1 2025
Chg %
Q4 2025
Chg %
Net interest income
1,759
1,829
-4
1,765
0
Net fee and commission income
842
793
6
853
-1
Net insurance result
69
54
28
64
8
Net fair value result
226
289
-22
257
-12
Other income
14
9
56
9
56
Total operating income
2,910
2,974
-2
2,948
-1
Total operating expenses excluding regulatory fees
-1,323
-1,300
2
-1,362
-3
Total operating expenses
-1,375
-1,354
2
-1,386
-1
Profit before loan losses
1,535
1,620
-5
1,562
-2
Net loan losses and similar net result
99
-13
-49
Operating profit
1,634
1,607
2
1,513
8
Cost-to-income ratio2, %
45.5
43.7
46.2
Return on equity with amortised resolution fees, %
15.4
15.7
14.4
Return on tangible equity, %
17.4
17.6
16.6
Diluted earnings per share, EUR
0.36
0.35
3
0.34
6
Excluding items affecting comparability. See pages 5 and 17 in the Q1 2026 report for further details.
Excluding regulatory fees.
CEO comment
It has been an unsettled start to the year once again. The conflict in the Middle East that escalated in March has created further geopolitical uncertainty, with volatility in the financial markets and implications for short-term energy supply and inflation. Sustained disruption to global energy markets may dampen economic activity, including in the Nordic countries.
However, the Nordic countries have a strong track record in navigating uncertainty. The stability, fiscal strength and global competitiveness of our home markets make them some of the world's best places to live and do business. In addition, our region is structurally well positioned in terms of energy resilience given its substantial renewable capacity and Norway's role as a major energy exporter. We saw this clearly during the energy crisis in 2022.
Nordea is uniquely diversified across the attractive Nordic markets. Years of relentless strategy execution have made us stronger and more resilient than ever, and very well placed to support customers. That strength showed again in our first-quarter performance, with solid growth in business volumes and high profitability. Return on equity was 15.4%. We were especially active with corporate customers: lending was up 11% year on year, supported by strong growth in all countries. Corporate deposits were up 2%.
Households focused mainly on strengthening their savings and investments. This was demonstrated by a 5% year-on-year increase in deposits and strong net flows into retail funds. Mortgage lending grew by 2% and I was pleased to see us win further mortgage market share in Sweden.
Assets under management increased by 9% year on year, to EUR 464bn. In turbulent markets, underlying net flows were strong.
Our 2030 strategy focuses on six distinct growth areas and we are seeing good early momentum in Private Banking, Life & Pension, small businesses and cross-sales. We are also encouraged by the steady progress we are making in Sweden and Norway. Execution on the other two priorities of our 2030 strategy, strengthening our customer offering and making more effective use of our Nordic scale, is likewise off to a good start. During the quarter we launched a unified Nordic corporate credit and lending platform and took further steps in our deployment of a more scalable and resilient payments platform, all part of our drive to deliver outstanding customer experiences and superior efficiency.
Total income for the quarter was EUR 2.9bn. Strong growth in net fee and commission income helped offset an expected decrease in net interest income in the lower rate environment. Increased market volatility following developments in the Middle East had an exceptional impact on our net fair value result. We continue to manage costs with discipline: first-quarter operating expenses were flat before foreign exchange effects. Our cost-to-income ratio was 45.5%, having been impacted by the lower net fair value result. Operating profit was up 2% year on year at EUR 1.6bn.
Credit quality remains very strong. This quarter, we fully deployed the remaining portion of the management judgement buffer we created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past six years we have continuously assessed the buffer in the light of macroeconomic conditions and in the knowledge that our loan portfolio performance has been consistently strong. These assessments have led us to gradually reduce it. This quarter, we reallocated EUR 116m to further strengthen our modelled provisions and released the remaining balance of EUR 160m, which was deemed surplus provisioning. Excluding the release, net loan losses and similar net result for the quarter totalled EUR 61m or 6bp.
In Personal Banking we maintained solid business volume momentum and customer activity. Customer savings and investment activity remained at high levels, with recurring savings up 3% year on year. Deposits increased by 5% and we grew our lending by 1%, with mortgage lending up 2%. We are making good early progress in improving cross-sales, supported by successful product launches in savings and more automated account opening and onboarding processes. Customer use of our digital services again increased: app users and logins were up 4% and 6%, respectively, year on year and 69% of fund investments were made through digital channels.
In Asset & Wealth Management our Nordic channels delivered a resilient performance in turbulent markets. Customer acquisition remained strong, reaching record highs in both Denmark and Finland and supporting net flows of EUR 1.0bn in Private Banking. Net flows in the wholesale distribution channel remained positive at EUR 0.1bn for the quarter.
In Business Banking we maintained good business momentum and drove strong volume growth. Both lending and deposit volumes increased by 8% year on year, led by continued lending growth in Sweden and Norway and stronger activity in Denmark. Deposits were up in all countries. Customer satisfaction rose year on year, particularly among small businesses and entrepreneurs. To support growth in the small business segment, we launched a digital onboarding platform in Denmark and Norway, with a wider Nordic expansion planned for the coming quarters. We also began the Nordic roll-out of ...
