Nordea has established Nordea Ventures to make strategic investments in fintech start-up companies, supporting Nordea's strategy of building a truly agile, digital bank.
Nordea wants to play an active role in developing new technologies for the financial sector from early on. Nordea Ventures will enable the bank to accelerate bringing innovative products and services to market for its 10 million household and 540,000 corporate customers.
"We want to play an active role in developing new technologies for the financial sector from early on. The financial technology market is changing rapidly and we want to be at the forefront of this development," says Casper von Koskull, President and Group CEO of Nordea.
Nordea Ventures will invest in companies offering mutual strategic value. Companies shall have scalable business models and be able to accelerate Nordea's time to market with unique solutions. Investments are mainly expected to be in companies which have a Nordic focus. However, where relevant, international companies will also be considered as investment opportunities.
"We need to be where the innovation is taking place. By working closely with disruptive fintech players, we will accelerate our digital transformation. But equally important is that we provide fintechs with access to our customer base, our resources and expertise, including risk management, regulatory issues and product development," says Ewan MacLeod, Chief Digital Officer at Nordea.
Through Nordea Ventures, Nordea will look to take a long-term ownership approach, be an active owner and engage hands-on with the invested companies. The venture arm will generally make minority investments in fintech companies.
One example of a fintech company Nordea has invested in is Tink, a financial aggregator based in Sweden. The aggregator helps customers understand their spending patterns through an app that shows all their banking services in one place. The app connects to over 2,500 banks across Europe.
For further information:
Ewan MacLeod, Chief Digital Officer, +45 21 19 95 40
Claes Eliasson, Acting Head of Group External Communications, +46 72 141 67 12