OREANDA-NEWS. On 22 May 2008 was announced, that this autumn, Hansabank Group in the Baltics and Swedbank will join together under a single – Swedbank – brand with a view to becoming the leader of premium service in Europe.

The brand implementation process will take approximately a year and will be completed in autumn 2009.

“The implementation of a single brand demonstrates Swedbank Group’s long-term vision. We will continue our operations in the Baltic region as we see it as being most important for the group on the whole. Our objective is to become the market’s service leader, therefore Swedbank and Hansabank Baltic groups will take the sharing of good practice and knowledge even further by working together under a single brand” underlines Mr Jan Liden, the CEO of Swedbank. “Both Hansabank in the Baltics and Swedbank have a lot to learn from each other. Hansabank is the leading bank in the Baltics, and its brand represents a well-known success story. I am proud of the contribution of all employees in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to make this success happen. Now we take the next step to combine our efforts in continuing to strengthen the positions of Swedbank Group as the leading bank in Northern Europe”, Mr Liden continues.

The single bank brand will create a blend of Swedbank and Hansabank values, with a view to consolidating the bank’s competitive capacity not just locally but Europe-wide. The Swedbank brand has already been successfully implemented in Sweden, Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere.

“We strive to become Europe’s leader of premium customer service, therefore we are joining together under a single – Swedbank – brand. Our ambition – to be become an exporter in the area of customer service excellence. We will prove that it is also possible to export an organization’s best practice and knowledge base. Since its foundation, Hansabanka has always strived to become the best bank in Latvia. During sixteen years of our existence, we have become the leading bank in Latvia and the Baltics, and the time has now come for the next step in the evolution of Hansabanka – becoming the best service bank in Europe. We are building an even more efficient and powerful cross-border bank because it will become increasingly important for our clients in already the nearest future,” explains Mr Maris Avotinsh, the Chairman of the Board of Hansabanka.

Mr Avotiтр also emphasises that cooperation between Hansabank and Swedbank is already like that of a single organization. The banks have already for several years been united in their business philosophy and values, which were created together. The single brand will be built on the same values, which allowed to become the leading Baltic bank – focus on result, transparency, innovations, commitment to long-term business and delivery of best customer experience.

With the implementation of the new brand, Hansabank will keep all the good practice that lies in the foundation of its business success, and supplement it with the experience and knowledge of a large international organization, as well as the new opportunities. The changes are aimed at benefiting clients and employees, and will open much wider possibilities.

Customers benefits from the implementation of a single brand: a single Swedbank brand will enable building an organization with a higher competitive capacity, which will create innovative products and services faster and more efficiently, give clients even greater customer experience, and will operate in a proactive manner, thus becoming the leader of premium customer service not just locally but also on a European scale.

Employees, in turn, will have a chance to work in larger organization where creating and implementing innovations and sharing best practice will be possible, thus delivering even better service to clients. Employees will also have greater professional growth opportunities and a chance to add to the value of their expertise.

Thus, the implementation of a single brand in Hansabank Baltics and Swedbank will enable an even closer exchange of good practices with colleagues worldwide. What Swedbank has taken over from the Baltics include good ideas concerning the improvement of service and sales processes, as well as how to operate successfully in new and rapidly growing markets. Hansabanka, in turn, has benefited from Swedbank’s experience in, for instance, risk management and asset management. The planned integration process will uncover many new areas where all parties will only benefit from the exchange of ideas.

Hansabank will implement the single – Swedbank – brand this autumn. An exact date will be announced this September after the completion of preparations for the implementation of the brand. It should be noted that the implementation of the single brand will entail no additional changes for Hansabanka customers – all prior contracts and obligations will remain in force.