Nordea’s wealth managers shielded from deep job cuts

Bloomberg

As regular bankers at Nordea Bank Abp brace for yet another round of cuts, those lucky enough to be working in wealth management face a very different future.
The head of Nordea’s wealth unit, Snorre Storset, says a plan to cut jobs across the organisation won’t affect portfolio managers in his unit.
Storset, who oversees $350 billion in assets from Oslo, pointed to a boom in private banking in Norway and Sweden. “We’re hiring,” he told Bloomberg. That’s because the two countries are home to “the fastest growing private banking markets in Europe.”
After years of negative interest rates and tougher bank regulatory requirements, wealth management is emerging as the golden egg for a financial industry still struggling to find its feet.
At Nordea, Chief Executive Officer Frank Vang-Jensen used to make clear to his employees just how dire things are in most corners of the bank. He was brought in last month to clean up after years of restructuring failed to control costs or revive revenue.
The upshot is that employees across most corners of Nordea have now been told to gird for “significant” job cuts that will add to the 6,000 already under way.
Some of the hardest-hit areas will include Nordea’s wholesale banking unit, which will suffer deep reductions in allocated capital after years of underperformance.