High earnings power and further progress in change agenda
CEO Christian Clausen’s comment to the report:
“Nordea’s strong business momentum continues. We welcomed 22,000 new relationship customers from outside the bank, our new apps more than doubled the number of active mobile bank customers and we strengthened our market-leading position with the largest corporates in the Nordic countries.

Profitability is maintained at a high level, with ROE close to 12%. It is encouraging to see our earnings power despite low interest rates, slow growth and the comprehensive change agenda we are pursuing to build the future bank business model.

Costs are kept under strict control and we have continued to build a stronger capital position and balance sheet. In the quarter, our core tier 1 capital ratio increased by 0.4 %-point to 11.6%.”
(For further viewpoints, see CEO comments, page 2)

First quarter 2012 vs first quarter 2011 (first quarter 2012 vs fourth quarter 2011):

· Net interest...