Nordea Savings & Asset Management wins the SimCorp StrategyLab Cost Management Excellence Award 2010

SimCorp StrategyLab announced this year’s winner of the SimCorp StrategyLab Cost Management Excellence Award at an event in Berlin, at which close to 400 senior delegates from the international investment management industry witnessed Nordea S&AM take home the award.

The award went to Nordea Savings & Asset Management because the company has worked strategically with cost management for a number of years, and saw the benefits of doing so even before the financial crisis forced the industry in general to take a more structured approach to managing costs. The jury was especially impressed with the fact that since 2006 Nordea S&AM has compared its operational costs against other asset management companies in an annual benchmark study and has been able to effectively learn from other companies’ best practices. Despite higher volumes and increased complexity in business demands Nordea S&AM has been able to reduce its operational cost base all together.

Head of Asset Management Operations, Ulrik Modigh, points to a key element in Nordea Savings & Asset Management’s successful attempt to reduce costs: "Our cost management strategy has been relying on the fact that we are operating on a wall-to-wall IT solution. This platform has been the foundation for implementing our strategy when it comes to centralizing and standardising activities and automating processes.” And he continues: “We have already been rewarded well for our efforts in this area in terms of reduced costs. Nevertheless, we are also truly honoured to be recognised with this award.”

Ulrik Modigh from Nordea Savings & Asset Management accepts the Cost Management Excellence Award from Peter Ravn, CEO of SimCorp and Director of SimCorp StrategyLab, Professor Ingo Walter, Stern School of Business at NYU.

Nordea S&AM was named the winner after thorough evaluation of entries by an international jury consisting of distinguished specialists and academics within finance and governance. The jury included professor and director of SimCorp StrategyLab, Ingo Walter, professor Paul Verdin of KU Leuven University, professor Michael Pinedo of Stern School of Business, NYU, and SimCorp’s CEO Peter L. Ravn.

The award has been established for the purpose of rewarding and promoting best practise within risk, cost and growth management in the global investment management industry.

Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to: Lars Falkenberg, Assistant Director, SimCorp StrategyLab (+45 35 44 88 00, +45 26 30 01 27)

About Nordea and Nordea Savings & Asset Management
Nordea’s vision is to be a Great European bank, acknowledged for its people, creating superior value for customers and shareholders. Nordea has around 10 million customers and approx. 1,400 branch offices. Nordea is the largest asset manager in the Nordics and one of the European asset managers with the highest growth rate. In Q2 2010 Assets under Management of the Nordea Group increased to all-time high EUR 170 bn.

SimCorp StrategyLab
SimCorp StrategyLab is a private research institution, headed by Mr Ingo Walter, Seymour Milstein Professor of Finance, Corporate Governance and Ethics at Stern School of Business, New York University. SimCorp StrategyLab research work focuses on identifying, understanding and suggesting solutions to issues pertaining to mitigating risk, reducing cost and enabling growth in the investment management industry. http://www.simcorpstrategylab.com/