Nordea Bank, the Scandinavian Bank that provides services including wealth management, said today that its risk-adjusted profit in the fourth quarter of 2009 dropped by 14 per cent to €533 million ($635 million) compared with the same period a year ago.

For the full year, risk-adjusted profit stood at €2.79 billion, a rise of 22 per cent, the bank said in a statement.

Its cost/income ratio rose to 56 per cent in the fourth quarter from 48 per cent in the previous three-month period, it said. Net interest income, at €1.299 billion, fell by 6 per cent on the same period a year ago, it said.

The number of Gold and Private Banking customers increased by 158,000 in the group, it said.

Last September, Nordea Nordea acquired Denmark’s Fionia Bank - a regional bank which provides wealth management services - in a move which Nordea said will double its market share on the Danish island of Funen.