Board level practices in Nordea Bank

1
Board level practices in Nordea Bank

• ETUI-REHS workshop
• Elewijt May 30-June 1, 2007
• Rauni Söderlund, Trade Union Suora, Finland

2
Case Nordea Bank

• Nordea Bank leading financial company in the
  Nordic countries, present also in the Baltic
  countries, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia,
  Singapore, U.K. and USA
• 30.400 employees (FTE)
• 1.100 branches
• 10 million customers

3
Case Nordea Bank

• Employee information, consultation, influence and
  involvement based on
• a) national legislation and agreements
• b) agreements negotiated within the group
• c) Swedish legislation on board-level
  representation.

4
Case Nordea Bank

• One-tier system Board of Directors, no
  supervision board
• 11 B.o.D. members elected by Annual General
  Meeting.
• 31 B.o.D. members appointed by the employees
  (today by the local Nordic trade unions). The
  deputy member due to Swedish legislation allowing
  max. 3 employee reps.

5
Case Nordea Bank

• Employee reps as per Swedish legislation have
  same rights and responsibilities as the others
  (except remuneration) -gt same material and
  backgroud information, same timing
• Informal communication ?
• Influence and respect gained by own competence,
  attitude and involvement
• Employee reps not in committees (internal audit,
  credit, remuneration) due to own tight schedules

6
Case Nordea Bank

• Employee reps discuss beforehand relevant issues
  -gt try to have broader view, find common
  understanding and agree upon speeches etc
• Nordea hoping for our loyalty towards decisions
  but not binding our hands as unionists
• Issues related to employees usually discussed
  beforehand with employee reps /EWC
• In theory representing all employees 80 are
  union members

7
Case Nordea Bank

• Problems/challenges
• Huge piles of material how to find relevant?
• Lack of time to be well prepared
• Some issues very complicated and far from own
  experience
• Some issues presented at very early stage how
  to evaluate possible effects?
• How to involve other countries?
• Language etc

8
Case Nordea Bank

• How the problems were tackled?
• Very close cooperation among employee reps, based
  on trust and fair play
• Experienced person mentoring the new ones
• Active contacts with experts in Nordea when
  needed
• Confidential cooperation with few union office
  experts and trade union colleagues

9
Case Nordea Bank

• Limited training / education received
• Financial Inspection in Sweden and IAA managers
  gave presentations
• Stock Exchange offered as well
• Insider rules presented in all countries
• Some trade union courses supporting (how to
  analyse companys financial statement etc)
• Others mentoring from colleagues, own
  background, long experience in union

10
Case Nordea Bank

• Conclusion
• Its hard, it takes time, its a big
  responsibility, it frustrates sometimes but
  still, you can add value to your members and to
  the decisions.
  
• No pain, no gain