How likely is it that Greece will have to exit the euro?

The probability has risen after the Greek election to about 50 per cent, according to some surveys. Right now Greece is in a state of political chaos, awaiting yet another election. But it will be very difficult to ensure backing of the pledges that the former government gave to the EU, IMF and ECB. Several EMU countries, and recently the ECB, have made it clear that there is no alternative and that Greece will have to exit the euro if current agreements are not honoured.

What will the implications be for the financial markets?

As long as the parliamentary situation in Greece is unclear, and in turn the country’s EMU membership, risky assets such as shares and certain corporate bonds will remain under pressure. True to tradition, investors will favour what they perceive as safe-haven assets: US, German and even Danish government bonds and currencies such as the USD and CHF.

What should you do as an investor?

At the moment risk diversification is more important than ever – so hold on to your shares despite these worries. Given the historically low interest rate level, conventional government bonds and mortgage bonds will yield very limited returns in the future, so we also recommend investing part of your savings in corporate bonds.

Christian Clausen and Robert Greifeld

Nordea CEO Christian Clausen rang the opening bell on NASDAQ in New York on 9 May.

At the opening ceremony Christian Clausen talked about how the world economy has evolved since he last rang the bell in December 2010.

- Many countries still have sovereign debt problems, global growth is on the agenda and decisions on Greece’s government finances continue to affect the market. Today the situation is more stable, but the danger is not over yet, Christian Clausen said.

For American and European banks the situation has changed dramatically due to the new regulations aimed at increasing the capital of banks to avoid future financial crises.

- Banks are facing major challenges. To avoid adverse effects from the new regulations on our customers, we are looking at our costs and at ways to improve our capital efficiency.

Despite the new market environment Nordea has a stable position thanks to our strong customer focus during the financial crisis.

- Today Nordea is the market-leading bank for large corporations in the Nordics and we have increased the number of relationship customers by 40 per cent since 2010, Christian Clausen said.

The yearly Business Travel Award (BTA) ceremony takes place at the TUR fair in Gothenburg. It is based on a survey among 2866 companies. This year First Card received the award for the best payment service.

First Card is a payment service system, covering both card and travel account transactions. The target group includes private enterprises as well as public institutions. The card is a MasterCard, but it is also available as a Visa card.

First Card offers a full service system for all business expenses and it can be used in more than 30 million sales outlets worldwide.

Design by Henning Larsen Architects for new office buildings

Nordea in Denmark has decided to terminate its lease with ATP Ejendomme, which owns the building in Torvegade in the centre of Copenhagen. Some headquarter functions will move to a new location in Ørestaden by the end of 2016.

Nordea Ejendomme has made an option agreement with By og Havn in Copenhagen on the acquisition of the site for the Ørestad Nord-project.

The Danish company Henning Larsen Architects has developed the design for the new buildings. If the plan is carried out the 40.000 m2 office buildings will be ready for use in 2016. There will be room for some 1800-2200 employees and the design also includes the biggest trading floor in the Nordics.

The top people in Danish finance have chosen Christian Clausen as decision-maker of the year. The award goes to a person who has set the trend and been an inspiration and role model in the sector.

Christian Clausen wins the award as he “has executed a consistent and customer-oriented strategy combined with ongoing efficiency measures” and … (he) is a modern and forward-looking leader – and not least a prominent, credible and very skilled businessman”, the jury said.

- I’m very happy to receive this award as decision-maker of the year. We’re facing the biggest changes in the banking system ever seen. The new regulation will affect every aspect of banking, and as decision-makers we face the task of creating an entirely new business model for the bank of the future, said Christian Clausen.

The vote took place among 100 participants at the conference StrategiTorvet Bank, Finans & Forsikring on 17-18 April at Hotel Comwell Borupgaard, Snekkersten in Denmark.

The nominees were:

• Tonny Thierry Andersen, Member of the Executive Board and head of Danske Bank Denmark.
• Anders Dam, Managing Director and CEO of Jyske Bank A/S
• Christian Clausen, Group CEO, Nordea A/S
• Lars Rohde, CEO of the ATP pension fund.

Please us this link to read more about the award.

This is the third time that Nordea participates in Earth Hour. Like last year Nordea will switch off the lights in our office buildings in all 21 countries where we operate.

In Nordea we strive to lower our energy consumption. We have already achieved reductions by:

• shutting down computers at night
• operating energy-efficient buildings. 14 head office buildings are LEED certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)
• installing motion sensors to improve light control.

Nordea focuses not only on energy consumption but also on a range of other environmental issues – read more in our CSR report .

Switching off the light for one hour is a symbolic act; the goal is not to save energy. The purpose of Earth Hour is to make us all think about how we can help reduce climate change. It is a voluntary global event organised by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF).

We encourage our employees and customers to turn off the lights during Earth Hour and we are spreading the message via our branches and on the web.

The background for this more optimistic outlook is partly that the European sovereign debt crisis is now properly contained and partly that the tentative US recovery seems to have taken hold. At the same time recent developments suggest that the slowdown in Emerging Markets economies will be moderate.

The outlook covers global economy and looks in more detail into:

• • The European Central Bank’s proactive approach
• • The political situation as a potential risk to the outlook for US economic growth
• • Slightly lower levels of growth in Emerging Markets
• • High oil prices putting a damper on the growth outlook not only in Europe but in the world as such
• • Modest economic expansion in the Nordic countries – which have had safe-haven status during the financial crisis.

Read the full report .

In Finland the Nordic Small Cap fund was rated Best Nordic Equity Fund in the Morningstar Fund Awards 2012.

In Denmark Nordea Invest received the Morningstar award as the best fixed income manager for the third year in a row. The Global Value fund and the Global High Yield bond fund also received awards as the two best in category funds in the Danish 2012 Morningstar award competition.

In Germany the Nordea – Danish Long Bond Fund was ranked best in the category for Bond Danish Kroner in the Lipper Fund Awards 2012.

In Switzerland the Nordea 1 – Stable Return Fund won an award in the Lipper Fund Awards 2012 in the category Absolute Return EUR Medium. And the same fund also won an award in Spain in the local Lipper Fund Awards 2012, once again in the category Absolute Return EUR Medium. In addition, the Nordea 1 – European High Yield Bond Fund SEK won an award in the same competition in Spain in the category Bond Europe High Yield.