Nordea Trade Finance voted Number 1 in Prospera survey
In Prospera’s annual Trade Finance customer satisfaction survey, Nordea has been ranked first for ‘Tier 1 Companies’ and joint first for ‘All Companies’ in both Sweden and Norway.
The move to the top position for Nordea Trade Finance is the result of a proactive and service minded approach.
Prospera’s Trade Finance survey gathered feedback from the largest companies in the Nordics on a range of criteria related to providing the best trade finance support and solutions to companies in the region. Nordea’s strong showing resulted in a move up the ranking tables in this important benchmark of customer satisfaction.
Patrik Zekkar, Head of Trade Finance & Working Capital Management at Nordea, says: “These results signal a fantastic improvement in customer satisfaction for Nordea Trade Finance across the Nordics. This is especially the case in Sweden where we have moved from fifth place last year to first place this time around. The whole team at Nordea has done a great job by working hard, being persistent and focusing on the right things. I really want to thank all of our customers for believing in us.”
Lena Hedengran, Head of Trade Finance Customer Service, says: “We have continued the journey of increasing our customer focus, raising our service levels and improving turnaround times. We are getting better at becoming even more of a partner for our customers, proactively reaching out to them with support wherever possible and staying close at all times. A big thank you to all of our trade finance colleagues and of course our customers for rating us so highly.”
Support through a year of challenges
In a year of multiple challenges, Nordea’s Trade Finance team managed to keep processes running and provided assistance to customers throughout the Nordics.
Lena adds: “Already early on in the corona crisis, we were one of the first banks to respond to the changing circumstances by giving advice to our customers on how to handle this very special situation. We held seminars and webinars, advising them on how to cope with each particular challenge as it arose and how to meet their business needs using trade finance solutions.”
Patrik adds: “ We reacted quickly and we had the digital tools and remote working capabilities in place to ensure there was minimal disruption for our customers. Thanks to our robust systems and the high level of competence in our team, we were able as an organisation to respond rapidly to the situation, regroup and reach out to support customers. Our document handling procedures in particular were resilient and proved to be very reliable during times of stress.”
Strong Nordic showing
As well as the first places in Norway and Sweden, Nordea Trade Finance also received high scores in Finland and Denmark. These results combined to move Nordea within 0.03 points of first place in the Nordics overall and 0.02 points within first place for Tier 1 companies in the Nordics.
In the Nordic survey, Nordea finished in first place in the client understanding, handling of errors, document handling and product expertise categories for all companies surveyed. Nordea was also first in the personal contacts and short turnaround time categories for Nordic Tier 1 companies.
Patrik concludes: “As the largest Trade Finance bank in the Nordics, we have the biggest universe to cater for in order to ensure we provide the best customer service. On a daily basis, we meet our customers in nearly all of the segments in the Nordic countries. It’s encouraging to see that we have been able to provide them with the service, advice and support they need. At Nordea, we are actively involved in all four Nordic countries and we have the broad capacity to deliver value in such a complex and varied universe.”
Lena concludes: “We are now very close to reaching the top spot in the Nordics. In order to do so next year we need to stay focused and continue to keep making an impact where we see it is actually working. We have to keep up the good work and the path we are taking. Our digital journey will continue and we are working with our customers to support them with new digital tools and automated solutions that increase efficiency and support their businesses.”
You can read more about Prospera here: https://www.kantarsifo.se/erbjudande/prospera
For more information on Nordea Trade Finance, write to Lena at lena.hedengran [at] nordea.com