Nordea raised its chair fee by 10% this spring, to €440,000 a year. Its chair is now paid exactly as much as Nokia's, and both earn far more than the chair of any other Helsinki large cap.
A year ago Nordea paid its chair €400,000, the second-highest fee in the segment. This year's annual general meeting added €40,000. Nokia kept its chair fee unchanged at €440,000.
The gap to the rest is wide. The third-highest chair fee is Sampo's €250,000, followed by UPM at €240,000. The typical large cap chair earns €166,500, so Nordea and Nokia pay their chairs about 2.6 times as much.
Nordea now pays its chair as much as Nokia
Ten highest annual chair fees among Helsinki large caps, 2026 AGMs
Nokia €440,000 Nordea €440,000 Sampo €250,000 UPM €240,000 Stora Enso €221,728 KONE €220,000 Wärtsilä €212,000 SSAB* €203,700 Telia* €199,500 Neste €195,000 €0 €100k €200k €300k €400k €500k €600k *Set in SEK, converted at the ECB reference rate on the AGM date (SEK 10.8485 per euro for SSAB on 28 April 2026; SEK 10.8765 for Telia on 9 April 2026) and rounded to the nearest €100.
Source: Listeds board remuneration data, AGM resolution releases 2026
Nordea gave its chair a bigger raise than the rest of its board The rest of the Nordea board received smaller raises. Ordinary members went up 3.1%, to €115,500, and the vice chair 5.6%, to €190,000. As a result, Nordea's chair now earns 3.8 times what an ordinary board member earns, up from 3.6 times a year ago. No other large cap has a wider gap between its chair and its members.
Nokia pays every board seat at the top of the market Nokia spreads its money differently. An ordinary member of the Nokia board earns €185,000 a year, more than the chair is paid at 21 of the 32 large caps. Nokia's vice chair earns €210,000, the highest vice chair fee in the segment. Nordea pays most for the chair; Nokia pays the most, or joint most, for every seat.
The top fee has not risen, but two boards now pay it For nomination boards preparing next year's proposals, the highest chair fee in Helsinki has not moved: Nokia already paid €440,000 in 2025. What has changed is that it is no longer a single outlier. Two of the largest boards in the market now pay the same top fee, and no other board comes close.
