remunaration

Casimir Lindholm, Justin Hotard, and Torbjörn Magnusson led Finland’s chief executive pay rankings last year, though only one of them still runs the company behind the payout. 

Lindholm, the former Hiab chief executive, topped the list with €14.3 million in compensation for 2025, while Nokia’s recently appointed Chief Executive Justin Hotard earned €6.8 million and former Sampo leader Torbjörn Magnusson collected €6.4 million, Kauppalehti reported today, citing listed companies’ remuneration reports.

The ranking underlines how long-term incentives, restructuring bonuses, and exit agreements increasingly shape executive compensation in Nordic listed companies.

Lindholm’s payout stood far above the rest of the field. He worked at Hiab for only part of the year before moving on to become chief executive of Meyer Turku. Most of the compensation came through long-term share-based incentives linked to the restructuring of Cargotec into Hiab and Kalmar, a process he helped oversee.

Hotard ranked second after joining Nokia from Intel, where he led the company’s data center and artificial intelligence operations. His compensation package reflected both Nokia’s global search for technology leadership and the need to replace unvested stock awards from his previous employer.

Magnusson, who previously led Sampo through a major strategic reshaping into a more focused Nordic insurance group, received most of his compensation through short and long-term incentive programs rather than salary.

Asset management companies paid the highest average salaries among companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange last year, according to a review of annual reports compiled by Kauppalehti Analyst Ari Rajala.

EQ topped the ranking with an average monthly salary of €13,681, followed by CapMan at €12,340 and Taaleri at €9,472, the report published today shows. The figures were calculated by dividing reported salary and compensation costs, including board remuneration, by average headcount. The dataset excludes companies with fewer than 50 employees.

The data highlight how scalable the wealth management business can be. Large pools of capital are often managed by relatively small teams, while performance-related compensation can significantly lift earnings in strong years.

At the other end of the ranking was electronics manufacturer Incap, where the average monthly salary stood at €717. Much of the company’s manufacturing workforce is based in India. Scanfil, another contract manufacturer with operations across Eastern Europe and Asia, reported an average monthly salary of €2,447.