Retrospect – happy, proud ... and worried

"When we look back at 2025, there are several points of impact that make me happy and proud of our community." 

This is how president Kasper Skovgaard Pedersen begins the talk about looking back. 

"As a trade union, it is natural that we mostly hear from members and union representatives when something is not as it should be. But fortunately, there are most of the good, happy moments with our members - and we must remember that. Not everything is black.

For example, it is simply so wonderful when we read the many wonderful nominations of colleagues every autumn for receiving the Skulderklap prize. Often, entire departments are behind a nomination, and the fact that so many people spend time and effort acknowledging a colleague shows that the community is largely the good glue in everyday life," he smiles.

Vice president Mette Balck Mejlby adds: 

"We can't oversee the fact that there has been a huge pressure on employees over the year. Many have had to get used to even very big changes in the everyday way of organizing work. We saw this especially in PeB, which initiated the process in the autumn. It has been uncertain and difficult for many, and a number of colleagues chose to accept a severance agreement along the way. In these months, we have to say goodbye to them, while at the same time there is a lack of colleagues to ease the work pressure. On this background, we very much welcome the fact that at the end of the year it was opened up again to be able to hire in 24/7 and the private branches. Hopefully, there will soon be some calm in that part of Nordea, so that our members can stand together to build the good everyday life in the new setup."

The 2030 strategy makes a strong start

But colleagues in Personal Banking are far from the only ones who have experienced major changes – they have come all over, and with the new 2030 strategy, we know that it is far from over. If we are to believe the announcements from top management, we cannot avoid the kind of thing that means fewer employees.

"They already felt this here at the beginning of 2026 in Technology, where the days around the first of February were filled with job losses and sad conversations for a number of employees. A situation that we, together with the members and the union representatives, did our utmost to limit the scope of. The justifications from Nordea's side were challenged, while the possible consequences of the cuts, from the employee side, were presented. When there was no longer anything more to do in relation to the number, we concentrated the work on creating the best possible situation for those affected, and from here I would like to thank all the union representatives who contributed to that process," says Kasper.

Invisible decision-makers

"The communication from the bank's side along the way was limited – everything was kept 'indoors' in Technology, and for the rest of Nordea's employees and the outside world, the job losses were only something they heard about because we communicated about it together with Finansforbundet. This was done in respect of various laws and regulations and not least those who were affected – but we think it is important that the rest of the company also knows what is going on," says Mette, who is also sad that this is repeated in other major changes. 

"Many major changes, such as the survey on office presence, are communicated via the local managers, who have had nothing to do with the decision – whereas the top management, who are often behind it, are invisible. And if the news comes on Intra, there is only rarely a comment field."

"It's a shame that we as employees don't have the opportunity to comment on what we encounter on a daily basis. We talk about it anyway. It's just not visible," Kasper adds.

"We have pointed out this invisibility and lack of opportunity for comments several times – and on that basis, we very much welcome the fact that on 27 February we have been invited to the Town Hall Meeting and Sharing Day, where we will all have the opportunity to enter into dialogue with both Frank Vang-Jensen and the Danish management."

New collective agreement – with both satisfaction and annoyance

At the 2025 Annual General Meeting, we were still in the middle of the collective bargaining process – the standard collective agreement had been negotiated and preparations for the company collective agreement were underway. 

"We are happy with the result we achieved. But one thing still annoys me enormously – namely that the management will in no way give the collective bargaining benefits to the many of our colleagues who are employed on contract. Gone are the days when contracts were reserved for employees in the absolute top tier – in fact, up to 20% of all employees at Nordea in Denmark are employed on contract. So it's not a small group we're talking about – and the contract is not something they have chosen themselves ... it comes completely automatically if the salary is high enough. But even a highly paid employee wants the opportunity for proper severance terms and opportunities to use the Finanskompetencepuljen. So it's a fight we'll continue," Kasper assures.

"And then we have a call to all members: Give yourself a tour of the many benefits we have through our collective agreement. It was clear when we collected demands from the members for this agreement that many want benefits that already exist and have long since been negotiated and paid for. Here is a point we completely agree with the bank on: Knowledge of existing rules and options should be much better!" says Mette.

Working environment in a new organisation

After a large number of meetings and conversations, it was finally possible in the autumn to get a new method for APV (Workplace Assessment) up and running, and all employees received a larger questionnaire in which the experience of the physical and psychological working environment was to be described.

"We are very pleased with the new method, and we know that the local health and safety representatives (AMR) now have a much better basis for the important work they do through the results of the survey," says Mette.

At the time of writing, elections to AMR have been called around the country – this time based on geography rather than organizational affiliation. 

"We hope for AMR everywhere, so that the working environment can be given the important priority everywhere in the bank that it deserves," she concludes.

General Meeting in the future

The General Meeting is a central focal point for our community and our democratic foundation. It is an important place where the voices of members are heard and where important decisions are made. At the same time, the general meeting is an event that requires significant human and financial resources, and therefore it makes good sense to take a good look at how we hold it.

"We would like to look at whether we can use the members' money more appropriately, and with a special focus on the strength of democracy and the desire to debate. And we want to make sure that the members' input on any changes comes into play before we show up with a thoroughly thought-out proposal for a new setup. Of course, there are some requirements that must be met – but there are still many things that can be tweaked, not least with inspiration from other parts of Finansforbundet as well as other associations. Therefore, we will soon invite you to participate in an advisory and working group that can help us look at everything without prejudice," says Kasper. 

"The purpose is that we – with the thorough involvement of as many people as possible in the process – can reach a number of amendments to the articles of association at the general meeting in 2027."

Many voices at once are difficult to overhear

"In times when increased pressure is put on the employees, it is natural that everyone's eyes are turned to the board in the expectation that we are doing 'something'. And I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to make management aware when something could be different or better ... or we think they have overlooked something. Our inquiries to management are based on what we know – from the members and the union representatives. Fortunately, there are also a lot of dialogues locally – which we can then take on to 'the big bank' – when that happens, our common messages become much stronger," says Kasper.

"So if I have to make one request here, it would have to be: Let's continue to move together on the bus and together bring up our concerns and good suggestions wherever we can. It is important that there are many of us about it – many voices at once are not so easy to overhear"!