New company collective agreement at Nordea 2025-28

Earlier this year, Finansforbundet concluded with Finance Denmark/Employers on a standard collective agreement (in Danish: Standardoverenskomst – STOK), applying to the financial area. It was adopted by the members of Finansforbundet on 31 March.
More information about the STOK is available here.

After the STOK was in place, Finansforbundet in Nordea (FiN) and Nordea embarked on negotiations for the collective company agreement (in Danish: Virksomhedsoverenskomst – VOK), which builds on the STOK. In our negotiations on the VOK we agree on terms that are more targeted at Nordea and Nordea’s employees than the STOK, which outlines the more overall terms.

The new STOK and VOK are valid for a three-year period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028. The collective agreement covers employees in the financial area under collective agreements, i.e. not Nordea Pension and contract employees.

The salary increases for 2025-28 are summarised in the following table, showing the combined distribution of the economy (STOK+VOK) at 8.6% over the three years:

All salary increases – whether general or those from the pool – will be allocated on 1 July of the year in question. The pool for Nordea Salary will be distributed according to the principles in Nordea Salary (see below).

The salary process, including salary dialogue, for 2025 will be carried out after the summer holidays, and the salary adjustment itself will be carried out with the salary for the month of November with retroactive effect as of 1 July 2025 to ensure the necessary time for the salary process.

As part of the agreement, the requirements for the lower limit of the salary increase ranges in 4 of the boxes in the 9grid model are adjusted from 2026; They are lowered by factors of 0.2 and 0.15 respectively. This provides a little more flexibility for the manager, as the room for manoeuvre is thus approx. 10% larger.

In exchange for the adjustment of the 9grid model, more funds have also been secured for general wage increases.

As something new, the lower limit for the salary increase interval can be deviated from if the employee has received an extraordinary salary increase within the last 6 months.

Table in English on its way

Nordea Salary will be adapted to the new job descriptions with associated salary ranges, and there will be job descriptions for all jobs. Pay guidance is Nordea's term for future wage formation in the bank and is based on external benchmark data, which governs the salary spread. Part of the work with pay guidance deals with increased transparency and is work ahead of the EU directive on pay transparency, which will be implemented in Danish law in 2026. In the future, the pay guidance limits will be adjusted according to the development in the external benchmark for the job description in question. However, the base of the pay guidance will at least follow the general salary increase in the company collective agreement. 

In STOK, it was agreed that the time bank (‘timebank’) will be called a free choice bank (‘fritvalgsbank’) in the future. It will become easier to plan time off at relatively short notice, and the possibility of running a deficit in the free choice bank will be raised from 21 to 37 hours. It has also been agreed to make it easier to use collective agreement care and holiday days and time off earned in other ways.

In the STOK, it was also agreed that if you have more than 320 hours in the free choice bank, your employer has the opportunity to pay out excess hours in excess of 320 once a year. Under the auspices of Nordea, it has been agreed that this can take place for the first time on 1 May 2026. The ongoing limit of 400 hours has been maintained in Nordea. This means that you can have up to 400 overtime hours saved up during the year, but if you have it, the number of hours over 320 will be paid out once a year, unless otherwise agreed.

If you perform another function for a temporary period of up to two years, you will receive a special job mobility supplement corresponding to the difference between your previous salary and the salary you receive temporarily in the job description you are transferred to while you perform the new function.

In general, the structure of supplements is simplified so that all personal supplements have the same supplement code ('Personligt tillæg').

The supplement for the transition from 5 to 6 weeks of holiday will lapse and will instead be included in the functional salary.

Freedom in the event of a child's illness 
In the case of a child's illness, it has so far been possible to be absent for up to five days. As a pilot project, Nordea and Finansforbundet in Nordea have agreed that you can get freedom in the event of a child's illness to the extent necessary – i.e. without any maximum. In the event of absence of more than two working days, Nordea may ask the employee for a reason why it is not possible to have the child cared for in any other way, and after absence for more than five consecutive days, Nordea may make further absence conditional on the employee presenting a medical certificate. Nordea will pay for the medical certificate if necessary.

Freedom to examination of close relatives
As something new, you can get time off for up to two days if a close relative needs to be examined after a referral from a doctor.

Social economic employment
Social economic employment is being opened up. Vulnerable people, such as refugees, can be work tested for up to 12 months in collaboration with schools.

Fertility treatment
As a breakthrough in the private labour market, the new STOK ensures that employees can get paid time off when they are undergoing fertility treatment - regardless of whether it is their fertility or their partner's that is the cause of the treatment.

Civil Counsel
Nordea is in favour of developing a policy whereby employees who are summoned as election officials, magistrates or jurors can use the 16 volunteer hours for this. However, it is not formally part of the company agreement.

Life-cycle phases
In the discussions about the new company agreement, there has been thorough discussions on the different life-cycle phases. It has been agreed that over the next three years, work will be done proactively on joint initiatives that focus on young people in their first job, menopause for women and andropause for men and a special “senior task force”.

More flexible senior part-time arrangements
As something new in the STOK, you can choose between having your weekly working hours reduced or placing the time off as single days. This improvement was previously negotiated in Nordea's company agreement, but has now been lifted to apply to everyone covered by the STOK in the financial sector. In this way, the terms of Nordea's company collective agreement have been a lever for the entire sector, just as we have benefited with other improvements that have first been agreed locally in other company agreements and which have since been lifted to apply to the entire sector, including Nordea.

From 2030, the age limits for senior part-time work will be raised.

The competence committee continues.
The well-being work has so far been anchored in a well-being committee. In the future, the work will be part of the health and safety organisation.

In the STOK, various changes have been agreed for IT employees, including that newly hired IT employees will be employed with a weekly working time of 37 hours instead of 36 hours as before.

Centrally, it was decided that the annual norm for new employees could be changed with effect from 1 April 2025. At Nordea, this applies from 1 January 2026. 

In order to facilitate understanding and application, the agreements on on-call time, enquiries and consultation have been simplified in the STOK. The changes are designed to ensure a better work-life balance and make it easier for all employees under a collective agreement to exercise their rights.

Overall agreement: One agreement now applies to all employees employed under a collective agreement in Denmark.

The number of possible on-call shifts is increased from 40 to 60 and the number of hours per year is increased from 480 to 1200 (STOK: 720 hours). In the future, on-call duties must be notified in better time – before it was no later than 24 hours before, now it is no later than 72 hours before.

The union representative can now meet with newly hired employees during working hours to talk about his or her tasks as a union representative. A meeting can be planned, for example, in connection with the introduction to the workplace for new employees.

Nordea will reintroduce a physical introductory day for new employees. At these meetings, it has been agreed that Finansforbundet in Nordea will participate to talk about its work.

Finansforbundet in Nordea has worked hard to include terms and conditions for contract employees in the collective bargaining. Nordea has rejected this, just as the terms and conditions of contract employees are not included in STOK either.

We are still working hard to improve the conditions for those of you who are employed on an individual basis and will continue to articulate the conditions for contract employees to the bank.

If you are employed on an individual contract, it will be the terms of your individual contract that apply instead of the company collective agreement. However, as the collective agreement as a whole forms the framework for all employees of Nordea in Denmark, parts of it also have an impact on you.

There are still a number of benefits as a contract employee of being a member of Finansforbundet in Nordea. See more at finansforbundet.dk/fin-contract

If the collective agreement is approved by the members, the agreement will apply from 1 April 2025 and for three years. The agreement will therefore apply retroactively. However, the salary increases will not take effect until 1 July of the years in question.

In 2025, the salary process, including the salary dialogue, will be carried out after the summer holidays, and the salary adjustment itself will be carried out with the salary for the month of November with retroactive effect as of 1 July 2025 to ensure the necessary time for the salary process.

Over the years, collective agreements have secured decent employment rights and working conditions for employees because many members have joined forces to demand something better. The strength lies in the community.

Throughout the years, collective agreements have brought us numerous improvements, including:

• 1997: Five care days
• 2003: Paternity leave. Part-time work for parents of small children. Health insurance. Increased holiday supplement of 0.15%. 100% pension contribution in connection with part-time employment for seniors.
• 2008: Day off on the Friday after Ascension Day. Time off in connection with sick children. Flexible working hours. An extended notice period of one month for employees aged 50 or over who have at least 12 years of seniority.
• 2014: Financial Skills Pool (Finanskompetencepuljen)
• 2017: Dental insurance
• 2020: New salary system in Nordea. Increased focus on wellbeing and competence. Increased flexibility.