Nordea has already put a man in place at the helm of its asset management subsidiary to fill the gap left after its chief executive surprised many last week with his decision to take the top job at Danish pensions giant ATP.

Christophe Girondel, head of institutional and wholesale distribution at Nordea Asset Management, is now working as acting head of the subsidiary after chief executive Christian Hyldahl and ATP announced Hyldahl as the chosen replacement for outgoing chief executive Carsten Stendevad.

Hyldahl is to start work as chief executive of ATP in January.

Martin Kjærsgaard Nielsen, head of press at Nordea in Denmark, said: “We are obviously sad to lose such a prominent person, but Christian Hyldahl leaves a well-oiled and strong asset management franchise at Nordea.

“We are fully confident the team and his temporary replacement, Christophe Girondel, will be able to maintain and expand Nordea’s solid position within asset management.”

Girondel, a French national, has been in his current role as head of institutional and wholesale distribution since 2014 and has been working at Nordea for 12 years.

Kjærsgaard Nielsen said the company wished Hyldahl the best of luck with his future challenges at ATP.

“Christian Hyldahl has been a major driver behind the good results performance of Nordea Asset Management, and we are grateful for his efforts at Nordea over the past 27 years,” he said.