Nordea is a Nordic leader in institutional global custody with approximately EUR200 billion in assets under custody. As a result of the acquisition, JPMorgan WSS also intends to offer local depository services to in-country mutual funds through the establishment of new branches in Denmark, Finland and Norway together with an expanded presence in Sweden. Nordea will retain its sub-custody franchise in the region.

As part of the agreement, Nordea will appoint JPMorgan as global custodian for its internal institutional clients such as Nordea Funds and Nordea Life & Pensions.

JPMorgan is currently the leading non-Nordic global custodian in the region supporting a broad range of Nordic-domiciled clients. It has a team of over 30 relationship, service, product and client technology professionals dedicated to the region and, following this transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, this will expand to approximately 75 professionals.

"This acquisition emphasizes JPMorgan's commitment to the Nordics," said Conrad Kozak, global head of JPMorgan's Securities Company. "A key cornerstone of our strategy is to align ourselves more closely in-region with clients. To that end, this acquisition is the next stage of evolution of our Nordic expansion."

"Nordea wants to focus on services where we can truly add value to our customers," said Birger Gezelius, head of financial institutions at Nordea. "Our current institutional clients will gain access to JPMorgan's best-in-class global custody offering and value-added services, while allowing us to strategically focus on our core competencies."

JPMorgan has been a major player in the Nordic asset servicing arena for over 15 years," said Stuart Thompson, head of Nordic sales and relationship management for JPMorgan's Securities Company. "By offering clients local touch and extensive regional experience, combined with advanced global capabilities that include services such as alternative investment administration, derivatives servicing, collateral management and securities lending, we can further extend our client offering in the region."

With total assets under management in excess of EUR2 trillion, the Nordic region is one of the largest and fastest growing asset servicing markets in the world.

JPMorgan's investment bank advised JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services on this transaction.