Nordea operating profit lags market estimates amid muted sentiment (updated)

Nordea Bank Abp

29/01/2026 06:08

Adds peers in paragraph 2, fee and commission income in paragraph 5, share move in paragraph 6

By Elviira Luoma

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Finland's Nordea NDAFI.HE reported quarterly operating earnings below market expectations on Thursday, as consumer confidence across its four Nordic home markets remained muted amid concerns over geopolitical tensions.

Its Swedish rivals Swedbank SWEDa.ST and SEB SEBa.ST also reported fourth-quarter results, with the former beating earnings forecasts and the latter missing them. Sweden is Nordea's biggest market.

Nordea's operating profit rose 3% from a year earlier to 1.51 billion euros ($1.81 billion), falling slightly short of analysts' average estimate of 1.54 billion euros, according to LSEG's I/B/E/S data.

Net interest income, a key metric for measuring banks' income from lending and deposits, slightly beat market expectations at 1.77 billion euros.

Net fee and commission income was up 3%, continuing the solid growth seen in the third quarter, the Nordic region's biggest lender said.

Shares of the Helsinki-listed bank were marginally higher as of 0947 GMT.

For 2026, Nordea expects its return on equity to be greater than 15% and cost-to-income ratio excluding regulatory fees to be around 45%, it said.

It proposed a dividend of 96 euro cents per share for 2025, compared with 94 euro cents per share paid for 2024.

The bank reiterated it was targeting a return on equity above 15% for each year until 2030, and that it should be significantly higher in 2030, as communicated in November.

($1 = 0.8345 euros)

(Reporting by Elviira Luoma in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((Elviira.luoma@thomsonreuters.com))