Cistran Finance Exploring the Spirit of Capitalism's New Frontier

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Nordea cites cross-border business as key to growth

Allan Polack, the head of asset management at Nordea, recently said that cross-border business has been a driving force behind the bank's successful growth in the European fund market.

"Despite the firm's medium size, Nordea drew in an estimated EUR7.6bn in Europe in the first 11 months of 2013," Polack said in an interview with Ignites Europe.

Nordea was the fifth-most popular fund manager in Europe last year, following a strategy developed four years ago to focus on key investor segments.

"We reviewed our situation in 2009 after the financial turmoil of 2008 and instead of pulling back we decided to focus on specific areas in products and distribution," Polack said.

Nordea decided to develop only products it could distribute to three key client segments - the Nordic retail and private banking market, the international private banking market and the global institutional market.

"We only do products that are right for all three: that's how you obtain the volumes," Polack said.

Nordea has seen strong inflows from southern Europe and Germany along with strong sales through global wealth managers.

"Banks are opening up their fund architecture but also focusing on building a stronger relationship with specific fund providers. The relationship is of course about fund performance but also about having a tight relationship, explaining your performance, updating constantly and interacting with their advisory tools," Polack said.