Nasdaq's Blueprint for Europe

New York, Tokyo, London – these and just a few other cities around the globe are playing outsized roles in the global financial system. Increasingly, there’s been a spotlight on a different region where important innovations are driving financial progress for companies, investors, and more. 

Welcome to Nasdaq Europe, encompassing the dynamic exchanges in the Nordics and Baltics, and showcasing the full breadth of the cutting-edge technology Nasdaq leverages across the entire financial system.

Nasdaq’s European exchanges have shattered expectations and become blueprints for European competitiveness. To help explain that development, Nasdaq created “Nasdaq’s Blueprint for Europe.” 

Here are the five key takeaways: 

A Thriving Local Environment 

One of Nasdaq Europe’s key achievements is building an environment of success for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), encouraging them to stay local. In fact, 90% of listings here are valued under $1 billion. 

Nowhere is that more apparent than at Nasdaq Stockholm, where the Nasdaq First North Growth Market has created an active exchange for companies to grow.  

“At the end of the day, it's really about making sure that rather than buying a suit that they will grow into, you're allowing them to buy a suit that fits them from day one,” said Adam Kostyál, President of Nasdaq Stockholm and Nasdaq’s Head of Listings for Europe. “And so we've seen a lot of companies since 2006 access the First North Market, start their journey as a public company. And what we have seen over time is that we have also seen more and more institutional investor support, not only Nordic, but also international, to participate in companies earlier, because they also understand that a lot of the innovation starts with much earlier phases and earlier companies, and they don't want to wait for that innovation once they join the main market.” 

“They'd rather participate from day one. So, the success of First North has not only been a strong support from retail investors, but also a strong support from institutional investors to support these companies,” he added. “So ultimately, we're able to support smaller companies, mid-sized companies, but also larger companies to access the public markets, get used to working in the public markets and engaging with the public markets from an investor point of view, from a media point of view and overall the responsibility of being a listed company.” 

Exceptional Market Performance 

The high-quality ecosystem surrounding Nasdaq Europe has also been a boon for prices – leading Stockholm, in particular, to outperform every other exchange in the world in historic annual growth since 1966. 

With world-leading technologies and operational approaches, Nasdaq Stockholm has created an environment where companies can thrive and investors can prosper.  

“At Nasdaq, we perform a unique role in running marketplaces. These are central to the national economies that we operate in. And, essentially the fabric which allows pools of risk capital,” said Roland Chai, Nasdaq’s President of European Market Services. “So institutional buy side retail investors are able to find companies and allow companies to come to market and access this risk capital. And these companies then develop and grow from small medium enterprises into larger companies.” 

“And in doing so, they add growth, they add jobs to the economy and GDP,” he added. “So providing that framework for investors to access very high-quality corporates is essential. It's essential in what we do both on the primary and secondary markets.” 

Strong Retail Investor Participation

A key component of Nasdaq Europe’s success is the Nordics’ strong retail investor base, especially in Sweden. 

Governmental policies, cultural factors, and market initiatives have all played a part in building this foundation for growth. 

“If we compare Sweden to a lot of other European countries, we can see that the level of financial literacy in Sweden is very high. But we can also see that the participation in the market is also very high. So the education helps people to take their first step to invest in the market,” said Henrik Johansson, CEO of Unga Aktiesparare (Swedish Young Shareholders'​ Association). 

“Unga Aktiesparare and Nasdaq have a very close relation. We work a lot together to make everyone investors,” he said. “It might be at a lot of different levels, but everyone should have the chance to participate in a market and take a part of these profits and take the risk they are comfortable doing.” 

Balancing Local Focus and International Appeal  

Amid the growth of Nasdaq Europe, one fact has always remained true: The markets successfully balance international appeal while serving the local economy. This “global reach and local heritage” is a blueprint for how exchanges around the world can carve out unique positions in our globalized financial system.  

“I think the biggest part is the recognition that Nasdaq Stockholm has as a trusted place for international investors to find opportunities,” said Mattias Danielsson, CEO of cybersecurity company Yubico, which made the transition from Nasdaq First North Growth Market to the Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market in December 2024. “It does provide a quality stamp, and it provides access and interest of renowned investors. A lot of people have the impression that to be applicable to U.S. investors, you need to be on Nasdaq.” 

“As we expand as a business, [Nasdaq] also provides an opportunity to invite new shareholders from other parts of the world. We're spending a lot of time focusing on Southeast Asia and Japan and would, of course, love to invite investors from those markets, too,” he added. 

One Nasdaq 

These achievements in the Nordics and Baltics are just one part of a bigger story: how Nasdaq is serving the broader continent with a One Nasdaq approach that incorporates financial technology. 

Stakeholders across the global financial ecosystem strive for the same outcomes: enhanced liquidity, optimized lending and investment capacity, effective risk management, and an innovative culture. Combined, these efforts create a stable financial system designed for resilience and growth. 

Today, Nasdaq’s Financial Technology Division has emerged as a vital force of innovation to the world's financial institutions, helping to solve their most critical challenges across risk, compliance, and trade infrastructure. As a result, Nasdaq’s clients now see Nasdaq as a more complete partner than ever before, able to help solve their most complex and important challenges. 

“For us, One Nasdaq is a unique proposition. I think we're very fortunate to be able to operate, marketplaces at the heart and in the fabric of capital markets and be able to deal with a huge amount of customers who have different needs and solutions—and also, at the same time, having the financial technology solutions that can help our customers, not just in the marketplace, but solve the problems that they need to solve,” said Chai. 

Information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Nasdaq cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “will,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to market performance. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond Nasdaq’s control. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in Nasdaq’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q which are available on Nasdaq’s investor relations website at http://ir.nasdaq.com and the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Nasdaq undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.