SCANDINAVIA - American investment bank JPMorgan has just announced it has signed an agreement to buy the €200bn institutional global custody business of Nordea, one of the largest Nordic banks.

No further financial details were given, though the business will transfer to JPMorgan over the next 12 to 18 months, during which time Nordea says it will continue to provide institutions "a full service", Nordea said in a statement this morning.

"JPMorgan Worldwide Security Services (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 presences in Sweden," said JPMorgan in a separate announcement.

Birger Gezelius, head of financial institutions at Nordea commented on the deal, saying: "Nordea wants to focus on services where we can truly add value to our customers," further adding: "Our current institutional customers 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."

A spokesman told IPE that under the agreement the earlier deal between Nordea made in 2005 with The Bank of New York, now BNY Mellon, whereby the two parties entered into a strategic agreement to provide global custody and selected related services to Nordea's institutional clients in the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions, will be canceled.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Carolyn Bandel on +44 (0)20 7261 4622 or email carolyn.bandel@ipe.com