Handelsbanken

About

We are…

A local relationship bank built on human values of trust and respect for the individual, empowerment and long-term thinking

• We offer bespoke, customer-led banking services and wealth management for private and corporate banking customers.
• Experts in our branches form trusted long-term relationships, with customers in their local area, who want a bank that really understands them and their needs.
• Our values of trust and respect for the individual mean we have a decentralised approach where colleagues are empowered to make decisions in their area of expertise. For example, our branch colleagues across the country are empowered to decide which customers to work with, and how best to serve them.

This means…

We are relationship-led

• Customers speak directly to a decision-maker, however and wherever they want.
• Our account managers take the time to fully understand each customer, their financial circumstances and aspirations so that we can serve them in the best possible way.
• By forming close relationships with our customers, we can be their trusted partner for all their banking and wealth management needs.

We have local expertise

• Customers benefit from access to a branch that is run like a local business, embedded in the local economy.
• Through their branch, customers can access our full range of banking services; personal, business and wealth management.
• Branch colleagues are integrated into local professional networks, connecting them and customers to broader knowledge and expertise.

We take a long-term view in everything we do

• We build long-lasting relationships with our customers and strive to deliver good customer outcomes –across the economic cycle.
• We have no short-term incentives such as sales targets and bonuses which can drive a behaviour not always in the customer’s best interests. Instead, we will always do what is best for the customer, even if it isn’t the most profitable for the Bank at the time.
• We believe we have a moral and social obligation to be a responsible contributor to the communities we are part of.

And it works…

• We have the strongest credit rating of all our peer banks: Fitch AA, Standard & Poor’s AA-.
• We are independently rated as Europe’s safest commercial bank (Global Finance Magazine).
• We are independently ranked top for customer satisfaction (EPSI) and relationship management and SME lending (CMA).
• We have achieved our one corporate goal –to be more profitable than the average of our peers –every year for the last half-century.