Organic growth strategy continues to pay off

  • Operating profit EUR 895m, up 6% excl. contribution from International Moscow Bank (IMB) last year (EUR 853m in the first quarter 2006)
  • Net profit EUR 701m, up 7% excl. IMB (EUR 665m)
  • Income EUR 1,873m, up 8% excl. IMB (EUR 1,754m)
  • Costs up 6% – including investments in future growth
  • Cost/income ratio 53%
  • Positive net loan losses of EUR 13m (EUR 31m) – 12th consecutive quarter with net recoveries
  • Earnings per share EUR 0.27 (EUR 0.26)
  • Return on equity 18% (20%)
  • Risk-adjusted profit up 11%

Strong performance in strategic growth areas

  • Total lending up 17%
  • Mortgage lending up 14%
  • SME lending up 14%
  • Consumer lending up 16% –non-collateralised consumer lending up 22%
  • Number of credit cards increased by 22%
  • Strong asset growth in Private Banking
  • Increased cross-selling of Markets' products to SMEs
  • Strong increase in capital markets transactions with large corporates

"Our reinforced organic growth strategy gives us continued strong momentum in our business development in all business areas. While investing in future growth we are on track towards delivering on the ambitious financial targets we set out in December last year. The organisational changes announced last week and the ongoing implementation of our integrated operating model will support our organic growth strategy by improving the quality of our customer relations and increase time spent with customers while reducing time-to-market of our product and services. With the aim of improving our customers' experiences of doing business with us and to meet our high ambitions, we will continue to increase customer focus, people orientation and teamwork in Nordea" says Christian Clausen, President and Group CEO of Nordea.

The full report including tables can be downloaded from the attached link.

Interim Report Q1 2007

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