Nordic Banking - finmeme account covering Nordic news, banks etc.

Hi,

I have been a member of WSO for a long time but recently switched to this account. I have followed Litquidity, High Yield Harry, IBD Memes and many more on Instagram for a long time but have been annoyed that there are no posts covering the Nordic markets. I have also noticed that there are not too many posts on WSO about banking or b-schools in the Nordics. As I would be interested to learn more about the Nordic banking scene and hopefully also be able to conduct comp-research on the Nordic banks when (hopefully) the following base of the page has grown enough. 

Hence, with this post on WSO I hope to inform Nordic users that there is an Instagram page called Nordicbanking where I aim to publish as much as possible only covering the Nordic banking scene. 


One of the posts on the Instagram page

Kind regards,

Nordic Banking

 

I think the reason why nobody talks about the Nordics is pretty well highlighted in your first post on Instagram - deal volume is fairly low, and the markets themselves are not the best to raise in (which is reflected by numerous metrics, e.g. ADTV). To offer a somewhat specific example, smaller caps burn cash too quickly relative to how much support they can get for their ideas from the likes of the European Investment Bank, local innovation funds like Sitra, and others. That's why post-COVID, you see several niche US/UK based funds doing different debt & equity structures that basically perform as extended ATM offerings (there must be at least a dozen ways to refer to these structures).

To me, the biggest problem with getting into banking in the Nordics is the lack of opportunity and this isn't exactly a Nordics exclusive issue since it spills over from Scandinavia into the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as well. Big 4, in terms of opportunities, wipes the floor with the banks (regionally) in terms of recruiting success and is well respected as a "First job out of uni" while IB does a poor job at separating itself from corporate banking and roles are barely available. I wanted to get into ER or AM, but found myself super-limited post-masters with the heavy bias towards internship-like roles.

Just going to add as context that I'm not Swedish, so the main regional market (that being Stockholm) is not something I have experience with - I suspect that's where most of the IB roles are based, but again, as much as I've looked, every gig is always built on a strong local language skill, so if you don't have business proficiency in the language of the role, probably not going to go anywhere.

 

Prospect in AM - Equities

I think the reason why nobody talks about the Nordics is pretty well highlighted in your first post on Instagram - deal volume is fairly low, and the markets themselves are not the best to raise in (which is reflected by numerous metrics, e.g. ADTV). To offer a somewhat specific example, smaller caps burn cash too quickly relative to how much support they can get for their ideas from the likes of the European Investment Bank, local innovation funds like Sitra, and others. That's why post-COVID, you see several niche US/UK based funds doing different debt & equity structures that basically perform as extended ATM offerings (there must be at least a dozen ways to refer to these structures).

To me, the biggest problem with getting into banking in the Nordics is the lack of opportunity and this isn't exactly a Nordics exclusive issue since it spills over from Scandinavia into the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as well. Big 4, in terms of opportunities, wipes the floor with the banks (regionally) in terms of recruiting success and is well respected as a "First job out of uni" while IB does a poor job at separating itself from corporate banking and roles are barely available. I wanted to get into ER or AM, but found myself super-limited post-masters with the heavy bias towards internship-like roles.

Just going to add as context that I'm not Swedish, so the main regional market (that being Stockholm) is not something I have experience with - I suspect that's where most of the IB roles are based, but again, as much as I've looked, every gig is always built on a strong local language skill, so if you don't have business proficiency in the language of the role, probably not going to go anywhere.

Coming from a Stockholm standpoint, I think opportunity is everywhere and it’s (based on my own judgement) way easier to get into banking here compared to the US or London with the comparative benefits intake (maybe even better due to better job security here). Banks and PE are also very active in their recruitment efforts, with annual trips being arranged for at least 3 schools + many local initiatives towards Stockholm School of business and KTH.

Big 4 is a very large player yes, but they can’t compete with the banks when it comes to prestige, money and desire in Stockholm. In other cities, the awareness is lower however and big 4 is an OK choice.

Plus that the financial market in Stockholm is very big for their size.

Just my two cents :)

 

I've done banking in both Stockholm and London. Would disagree regarding your "easier to break in to IB in Stockholm" statement. London is way more open to diverse backgrounds, outside top target schools, etc. In Stockholm you can easily break in, but only if you attended one of the three targets. Also way more opportunities in London. Stockholm's M&A scene is an "Ankdamm" - I do love the city though!

 

From my experience, some of the banks in Stockholm ask more challenging technical questions (Goldman, Jefferies and some others) compared to the London offices

 
Most Helpful

You're correct that the largest offices are often in Sweden. If the bank only has a Nordic office (all the BBs), they are fine with you speaking any Nordic language. However, if the bank has local offices you are required to speak the local language. So for example, you would not be able to join Nordea's office in Stockholm if you don't speak Swedish. This makes it a bit more difficult if you're Finnish / Norwegian / Danish as you have fewer large offices in your country and thus fewer positions. 

I also think that the Nordic region is quite different from the UK / US in terms of the experience required. In the Nordics, it is very common to have a part-time job when studying. This is not really a thing in the UK / US where people study full-time during the semesters and as such their only experiences will be summer internships / student clubs. As a consequence, many applicants will have had a part-time job at a small family office, a local mutual fund, customer service at a bank etc. With that said, even getting an internship at one of the larger Nordic banks / BBs can be quite difficult if you haven't had any part-time job before. 

I agree with the statement above that the IB scene in Stockholm is pretty small. For example, Nordea and SEB have about 40-50 people each in IB. Danske Bank has about 20-30 people. The international BBs have about 10-20 people each. Sum up the international BBs and the Nordic banks and you will end up with a couple of hundred junior employees in IB in Stockholm. As there aren't a lot of positions at each bank, connections become extremely important. Obviously, the people living in Stockholm are the ones who are most likely to have connections in the city. 

Given that everyone knows everyone within the IB world in Stockholm and everyone went to SSE, it can be quite difficult to break in from another city when you don't have connections at the banks that will recommend you. I'm Swedish myself but didn't grow up in Stockholm. I studied in London at (LSE / LBS / Oxford) and I had a much easier time recruiting in London than in Stockholm. I had a much stronger resume than pretty much every kid from SSE and there's obviously a huge difference between the schools. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I have no connections in Stockholm while in London you're not really required to have connections to get an internship or a job. 

 

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