CEO's review
CEO's review
On this page, you can find the latest review of the CEO.
CEO's review Q3 2026
CEO Petri Niemisvirta
The third quarter, and September in particular, was an exceptional time for the fixed-income market. Increased inflationary pressures and concerns over governments’ increasing debt altered the markets’ interest rate expectations and quickly raised long-term rates in both Europe and other key markets.
Mandatum’s client assets under management grew year-on-year by an excellent 13 per cent and, as a result of the sharp rise in interest rates, from the previous quarter by a more subdued one per cent to EUR 16.8 billion. With regard to fixed-income investments, it is worth noting that their market values will recover, i.e. they will move towards their face value as they near maturity, presuming that the loan is repaid normally. Fluctuations in market values are thus typically temporary, which sets fixed-income apart from many other asset classes.
The positive increase in client assets year-on-year drove growth in our strategically important result line items: the fee result increased by 11 per cent and the capital-light profit before taxes by 18 per cent. Alongside growth, we continuously keep an eye on operational efficiency. The cost/income ratio related to client assets further improved and was 48 per cent. This means that in our core business, we are well on our way to achieving our targets, for which a key driver is profitable growth in fee-based business.
In the third quarter, net flows are typically lower than in other quarters due to the holiday period, and this year was no exception. Net flow in the quarter was EUR 55 million and clearly below the levels seen in previous years. The rapidly rallying interest rate environment was reflected in client behaviour as both delayed investment decisions and increased redemptions; a small portion of institutional assets are by nature particularly sensitive to major market movements. It is also good to bear in mind that net flow is not evenly distributed across all four quarters. At the same time, it goes without saying that we are not happy with our performance in the quarter and can do better. I am confident that our sales-driven culture and active work with clients will bear fruit.
During the quarter, international institutional sales performed well especially in Sweden, and client assets under management increased by 16 per cent year-on-year. In addition, we continued to expand our international distribution network in Central Europe. Sales of discretionary mandates, in particular, continued to be strong, supporting the 15 per cent year-on-year growth in client assets under management in private wealth management and further increasing Mandatum’s market share. The steady development of our corporate clients business continued: the sales of unit-linked pensions remained at a good level and risk life insurance sales grew year-on-year.
The Group’s profit before taxes was EUR 44 million, down from last year mainly due to the net finance result. The majority of the with-profit portfolio is invested in fixed-income, whose result was weighed down by the sharp rise in interest rates during the quarter. On the other hand, the higher interest rate environment has improved the expected return on bonds and created attractive investment opportunities in the long run, particularly when it comes to capital-efficient government bonds. Alternative investments and especially private equity investments performed well once again, but they make up a significantly smaller share of our investments than fixed-income.
Mandatum acquired Swedish asset manager Cliens
In August, we reported that Mandatum had agreed to acquire the Swedish asset manager Cliens and to strengthen its position in Sweden. Cliens’ assets under management came to approximately EUR 3.2 billion at the end of September. The transaction was completed on 16 October once all of the necessary authorisations had been granted. Cliens will be reported as part of Mandatum for the first time in the fourth quarter of this year.
The acquisition is a strategically significant step in terms of our objective of accelerating the growth of our international institutional asset management and, as a result, growing our capital-light business. Sweden is the largest asset management market in the Nordics and a key market area for us. Cliens’ established position in Sweden, its strong long-term performance track record and a similar corporate culture to Mandatum’s were important factors behind the transaction. A key consideration in the arrangement was also Cliens’ strong expertise in small and mid caps, which complements our equity offering exceptionally well. These factors, together with Mandatum’s own distribution network, open up new growth opportunities for us in both the Nordics and internationally.
On 3 November 2026, an unauthorised access was detected in the Trader trading service, involving unauthorised trades on the accounts of a few dozen customers. The affected customers have been contacted, and their accounts have since been restored. We take the incident very seriously and are continuing to investigate it thoroughly. Information security threats targeting the financial sector are a growing challenge, highlighting the need to stay prepared. We are working systematically to further strengthen our information security and ways of working.
Mandatum is strongly positioned to succeed in different market conditions. Although the rapid increase in interest rates towards the end of the third quarter weighed on the company’s earnings, I would like to highlight that the higher interest rate environment is primarily positive for Mandatum’s business over the long term. We are making steady progress in implementing our strategy, and our key result line items are growing in line with our targets. Our job is to ensure that this continues.
Petri Niemisvirta
Chief Executive Office