New collective agreement for 41,000 financial sector employees

The Danish Employers' Association for the Financial Sector (FA) and Finansforbundet have agreed on a new collective agreement for 41,000 financial sector employees.

The key points of the agreement are:

• A two-year agreement, ending on 31 March 2025.
• The agreed pay rises are 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 3.7 per cent in 2024 – which includes a possibility for 1.5 per cent in local pools for corporate collective agreements and 1 per cent in the standard collective agreement in year two.
• Maternity/paternity leave for fathers and co-mothers is extended by 10 weeks to a total of 26 weeks with full pay and pension.
• Establishment of a late career working group and a data ethics working group

Kent Petersen, President of Finansforbundet, says:

“These negotiations have been tough and lengthy and conducted in a complex context, but I am really pleased that together with the employers we have achieved a result with a reasonable framework that will also give the employees a noticeable pay rise. This coupled with the agreement’s other elements have overall given us a really reasonable and good agreement for the next two years for employees and businesses in the sector. We can be pretty pleased with that,” says Kent Petersen.

Nicole Offendal, CEO of the Danish Employers' Association for the Financial Sector (FA), says:

“This is an economically responsible agreement for the businesses that also ensures balanced pay rises for the employees. Besides that, the agreement includes several progressive measures that reach into the future’s labour market, for example, in terms of improved maternity/paternity conditions and enhanced well-being through increased flexibility. All in all, we have concluded a responsible and sustainable agreement in challenging times of great economic instability,” says Nicole Offendal, CEO of the Danish Employers' Association for the Financial Sector (FA).

The agreement is now going to be discussed in Finansforbundet’s Assembly of Representatives that decides whether or not to put the agreement to a ballot of the members. If a majority vote in favour of the collective agreement at the upcoming ballot of Finansforbundet’s members eligible to vote, the agreement enters into force on 1 April.