The FINANCIAL — NIB has received results of its latest survey that indicates the Bank’s high level of reputation among the key stakeholder groups.
In line with the Public Information Policy, NIB actively and regularly seeks feedback from its key target groups on their awareness of the Bank and its reputation. In practice, this is done by conducting a thorough stakeholder survey every three years.
The goal is to receive feedback on NIB’s awareness and communication channels, reputation, customer relationship strength, sustainability matters and value added to the key target groups.
In 2015, the key groups in the survey were lending customers, investors and public authorities. Altogether, 123 interviews were conducted during September and October. The survey was conducted by TNS Gallup Oy.
Newsletters preferred
According to the results, the most preferred information channels among lending customers are the electronic NIB Newsletter, bilateral contacts and the website. Very few expect to be reached via social media.
High reputation and strong relationships
The results show that NIB’s overall reputation is very high and clearly outperforms the level of reputation in the financial industry in general, based on benchmark information. This time, the Bank also examined not only its reputation, but also the strength of its customer relationships. In this analysis, NIB is more in line with other financial institutions providing financial services to business customers.
The most important positive drivers in customer relationships include reliability, a stable supply of long-term financing and the overall reputation of NIB. Less positive experiences were related to the fact that the Bank’s loan process takes time due to the careful approval process.
Valuable opinions
On top of the issues mentioned above, the survey covered some questions related to NIB’s strategy. One of the findings was that one fifth of lending customers see a need for NIB to continue financing projects also outside its member countries. The results from a small sample of mid-cap companies indicate that NIB can be seen as a potential source of financing on top of house banks and other financial institutions.
Investors are attracted by NIB having the highest credit rating, as well as its financial strength, strong owners and overall reputation. Investors would like to see NIB being a more frequent issuer of global benchmark bonds. They are also increasingly paying attention to sustainability-related issues: the majority of them were aware of NIB’s Environmental Bond Framework.
“It is healthy for an organisation to check from time to time what is really the value-added for the key stakeholders. For example, in our case customers value reliability, a stable supply of long-term financing and the high overall reputation of NIB. Against these, they seem to be willing to accept that out lending process requires more input from the customer than is the case with commercial banks“, says Jukka Ahonen, Head of Communications at NIB.
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