Nordea Bank Abp (Nasdaq Helsinki: NDA FI; Nasdaq Stockholm: NDA SE; Nasdaq Copenhagen: NDA DK) disclosed 430,274 shares repurchased on April 9, 2026, via Morgan Stanley Europe SE under its ECB-approved EUR 500 million buyback programme ending May 8, 2026. With Q1 2026 earnings due April 22, 2026, the daily buyback cadence continues as a core element of Nordea's capital return strategy.

Nordea Bank Abp (NASDAQ Helsinki:NDA FI; Nasdaq Stockholm:NDA SE; Nasdaq Copenhagen:NDA DK) has issued its daily statement of transactions in own shares for April 9, 2026, disclosing that the Finland-domiciled banking group repurchased a combined total of 430,274 shares across three Nordic exchanges during the trading day. The transactions were executed on Nordea's behalf by Morgan Stanley Europe SE and form part of the bank's ongoing capital return programme, a cornerstone of its multi-year strategy to deliver shareholder value through a combination of dividends and share buybacks. The daily report details the volumes and weighted average prices executed on each venue, in line with regulatory disclosure requirements for issuer repurchase programmes in the European Union. For investors tracking one of the largest and most systemically important banks in the Nordic region, the steady cadence of daily buyback updates continues to reinforce Nordea's message of capital discipline, robust earnings capacity, and commitment to returning surplus capital to shareholders while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

About Nordea Bank

Nordea is the largest financial services group in the Nordic region, with operations across Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and branches in a number of other European countries. The bank serves retail customers, corporate clients, and institutional investors across the full spectrum of banking services, including mortgages, deposits, lending, payments, asset management, investment banking, and wealth management. Its systemic importance to the Nordic financial system has earned it designation as a Global Systemically Important Bank by international regulators, subjecting it to heightened capital, liquidity, and resolution requirements. Nordea's business model is characterized by its diversified geographic footprint, its strong consumer banking franchise, and its leading position in corporate banking across the Nordic region. The bank has historically emphasized its digital banking capabilities, its cost discipline, and its commitment to sustainability as key differentiators in an increasingly competitive European banking landscape where scale and technological investment are major drivers of long-term shareholder value.

Transaction Summary: Volumes and Venues

On April 9, 2026, Nordea Bank repurchased 236,772 shares on Nasdaq Helsinki at a daily weighted average purchase price of 15.4867 euros, with the highest price paid at 15.6550 euros and the lowest price at 15.4150 euros, resulting in gross consideration of approximately 3.67 million euros. On Nasdaq Stockholm, the bank repurchased 172,028 shares at a daily weighted average purchase price of 168.4087 Swedish kronor, with prices ranging from 167.4000 to 169.8500 kronor, resulting in gross consideration of approximately 28.97 million kronor. On Nasdaq Copenhagen, the bank repurchased 21,474 shares at a daily weighted average purchase price of 115.7152 Danish kroner, with prices ranging from 115.4000 to 116.8500 kroner, resulting in gross consideration of approximately 2.48 million kroner. The transactions were executed across the XHEL, XSTO, and XCSE venue identifiers, reflecting Nordea's unique position as a bank with primary listings on all three major Nordic stock exchanges.

Nordea's Capital Return Programme in Context

Nordea Bank has operated one of the more ambitious and consistent shareholder return programmes in European banking. Since regaining full regulatory flexibility after the post-financial-crisis era, the bank has distributed substantial amounts of capital to shareholders through ordinary dividends, special dividends, and multiple rounds of share buybacks. The current buyback programme was approved under the authorization granted by Nordea's Board of Directors pursuant to the mandate received from the Annual General Meeting. Share repurchases are a key component of Nordea's strategy to reach its medium-term financial targets, including optimizing its common equity tier 1 capital ratio while preserving the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives and absorb potential economic shocks. By conducting the programme through an appointed investment firm operating under pre-agreed parameters, the bank ensures that trading activity is insulated from inside information and complies with the EU Market Abuse Regulation safe harbour provisions relevant for share repurchase programmes.

Regulatory Disclosure Framework

Under the Market Abuse Regulation, issuers conducting share buyback programmes in the European Union are required to publish detailed daily information about the transactions, including aggregated purchase volumes, weighted average prices, and individual trade-level details. Nordea's daily statements follow this framework meticulously, providing transparency for investors, market participants, and regulators. The statements identify the issuer by its Legal Entity Identifier, the financial instrument by its International Securities Identification Number, the intermediary executing the trades, and the trading venues where the transactions occurred. Individual trade details are appended in machine-readable formats, enabling sophisticated market participants to reconstruct the intraday execution profile of the programme. This level of disclosure reflects the broader regulatory emphasis on market integrity and investor protection in the European Union and is a distinguishing feature of listed company buyback programmes conducted in the region relative to certain other jurisdictions globally across the equity markets.

Strategic Significance of Ongoing Buybacks

Share repurchases serve several strategic purposes for Nordea. First, they reduce the number of shares outstanding, which supports earnings per share growth and return on equity targets even in periods of modest net income growth. Second, they provide a flexible tool for returning capital to shareholders that can be adjusted in response to changing market conditions, regulatory considerations, and business needs. Third, buybacks reinforce management's confidence in the bank's balance sheet strength and earnings outlook, serving as a signal to the market that Nordea sees its shares as attractively valued. Fourth, they help the bank manage its capital ratios toward optimal levels rather than accumulating excess capital that would weigh on return on equity. For European banks that have historically faced depressed valuations relative to their US peers, consistent buyback programmes have become an important mechanism for narrowing the valuation gap and demonstrating disciplined financial management to global investors and analysts following the sector closely.

Industry Context: European Bank Capital Returns

Nordea's active buyback programme sits within a broader European banking trend in which major lenders have sharply increased their capital return activity since the end of pandemic-era restrictions. Banks such as BNP Paribas, UniCredit, ING Group, BBVA, Santander, UBS, and HSBC have announced multi-billion-euro buyback programmes in recent years, often alongside elevated dividend payouts. This surge in capital returns reflects several factors, including strong operating profits driven by higher interest rates, accumulated excess capital on bank balance sheets, regulatory green lights for distributions, and management teams responding to persistent investor demand for tangible capital return commitments. Nordic banks, led by Nordea as well as peers including Handelsbanken, SEB, Swedbank, DNB, and Danske Bank, have been particularly active given their generally strong capital positions and conservative credit risk profiles. The regulatory and macroeconomic environment has generally supported these programmes, though individual bank strategies differ based on local market considerations.

Interest Rate Environment and Earnings Backdrop

The ability of Nordea and other European banks to sustain active buyback programmes reflects the supportive earnings environment of recent years. Higher interest rates following the European Central Bank's tightening cycle significantly boosted net interest income for banks with large deposit franchises, while improved asset quality in many portfolios supported lower loan loss provisions. Although interest rates have since begun to moderate in line with cooling inflation across the eurozone and broader Nordic economies, net interest income has remained solid, supported by continued loan demand and disciplined deposit pricing. Nordea's diversified business mix, including strong contributions from its asset management and corporate banking divisions, has provided additional resilience. Investors are closely watching how European banks navigate the transition to a lower but still positive interest rate environment, and how this will affect the pace of capital returns and share buyback programmes going forward through the remainder of 2026 and beyond across the region.

Execution Mechanics: How the Programme Works

Nordea has engaged Morgan Stanley Europe SE as the intermediary executing its share buyback programme. Under the terms of the engagement, Morgan Stanley makes independent trading decisions within pre-agreed parameters, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and enabling the programme to continue even during periods when Nordea is in possession of inside information, such as around financial reporting dates. The programme is executed across multiple venues to manage market impact and to reflect Nordea's multi-listed status. By distributing purchases across Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Stockholm, and Nasdaq Copenhagen, the bank is able to align its repurchase activity with the liquidity profiles of each market and to avoid concentrating buying pressure on any single exchange. This multi-venue approach also ensures that shareholders across the Nordic region have the opportunity to benefit from the bank's capital return activities regardless of where they prefer to trade Nordea shares across the three listing locations available to institutional and retail investors.

Nordea's Position in Investor Portfolios

Nordea is a core holding for many investors seeking exposure to Nordic banking and broader European financial services. The bank's diversified earnings base, strong capital position, and consistent dividend policy have made it a staple of income-focused European equity portfolios. Its multi-listing across three Nordic exchanges provides broad accessibility and liquidity, while its inclusion in major regional and global indices ensures passive investment flows. Analyst coverage of Nordea is extensive, with sell-side research houses across Europe and North America providing regular updates on earnings trends, capital developments, and strategic initiatives. The ongoing buyback programme, reflected in daily statements such as the April 9, 2026 disclosure, supports investor confidence in the bank's commitment to shareholder returns and provides a tangible data point for monitoring the execution pace of the broader capital return strategy. The daily transparency reinforces Nordea's reputation for disciplined communication with markets.

Macro-Financial Considerations

The Nordic banking sector operates within a macro-financial environment characterized by relatively high household debt levels, substantial residential mortgage exposures, and increasingly digital consumer behavior. Nordea, like its peers, has had to navigate changes in housing markets, regulatory reforms affecting mortgage lending, and evolving customer preferences. The bank has generally managed these challenges successfully, maintaining strong credit quality and solid profitability metrics across its geographic footprint. Regulatory considerations remain a constant factor, with oversight by the European Central Bank under the Single Supervisory Mechanism and by national authorities in each Nordic country. Capital requirements, liquidity rules, and resolution frameworks all influence how Nordea manages its balance sheet and plans its capital return activities, including the ongoing share buyback programme. Market participants watch these regulatory developments closely, since they can directly affect the scale, pace, and structure of future capital distributions to Nordea shareholders.

Future Outlook for the Buyback Programme

Nordea's ongoing buyback programme is expected to continue in line with its stated objectives and regulatory authorizations, with daily statements of transactions providing transparency on execution. Investors watching the programme will be attentive to the total number of shares repurchased over time, the cumulative capital deployed, and the effect on the bank's capital ratios and share count. Management's commentary on future programmes, expected to be provided at each quarterly earnings release and Annual General Meeting, will shape expectations around the trajectory of capital returns beyond the current programme. Broader European banking sector dynamics, including interest rate paths, asset quality trends, and regulatory developments, will also influence the sustainability of high capital return activity across the industry. For now, the April 9, 2026 statement is one data point in a steady stream of disclosures that together paint a picture of a well-capitalized, profitable Nordic bank returning surplus capital methodically to its broad shareholder base.

Conclusion

Nordea Bank's April 9, 2026 statement of transactions in own shares provides a snapshot of one day's activity within a larger, multi-venue capital return programme that has become a defining feature of the bank's shareholder value proposition. The repurchase of 236,772 shares on Helsinki, 172,028 shares on Stockholm, and 21,474 shares on Copenhagen, executed at transparent weighted average prices through Morgan Stanley Europe SE, demonstrates both the technical rigor of the programme and its alignment with regulatory disclosure standards. For investors, the daily statements offer a way to track the consistent execution of Nordea's strategy, while the broader context highlights how the bank fits into the wave of European banks returning capital to shareholders in the current earnings environment. As Nordea continues to deliver on its medium-term financial targets, its active use of share buybacks alongside dividends remains a central element of how it shares value with investors. The April 9 disclosure reinforces the bank's image as a disciplined, shareholder-friendly Nordic financial institution operating at the highest standards of transparency.