Nordea focuses on a single future

Published: 06 October, 2003

• Order reprint

Nordea is recognised as a leader in all the countries of the Nordic region and continues to show strengths in retail banking. The Banker talks to Kari Jordan about the secrets of its success.

To become a successful regional bank in a highly competitive market is extremely difficult but that is exactly what Nordea has done. The bank’s journey of Nordic success began as a merger between Sweden’s Nordbanken and Finland’s Merita Bank in 1998. However, this domestic consolidation was not considered enough for the successful future of the bank, so the renamed MeritaNordbanken merged with leading Danish bank Unidanmark in 2000, forming Nordic Baltic Holding (NGH). In 2001, the bank merged with the former Norwegian state bank Christiania Bank and a year later the Swedish post office bank, Postgirot Bank, became a fully owned subsidiary of Nordea, the new name of NBH.