Nordea boss warns of further job cuts

Chief executive Casper von Koskull said the jobs would be lost through attrition. In an interview with Bloomberg he said the bank needs to “accelerate the structural cost savings” as well as income growth.

“This is an industry that will have less people,” he said. “To stay profitable, banks need to be much more digital, much more automated.”

Von Koskull is attempting to regain the confidence of the Nordea investors and trying to automate as many functions as possible. He predicted that banks will need around half of the employees they currently have in 10 years.

“You need to synchronize your cost drive with making sure you can maintain income momentum,” von Koskull said. “And that’s what we will do. But, if we can take more cuts faster, we’ll do it,” he said.