Press informationFinnish Banks 2007 according to the EPSI Rating Customer Satisfaction Study
- Nordea and Sampo have improved most their private customer satisfaction indexes - Although satisfied, customers are not so loyal to their banks - Finnish banks´ corporate customers´ satisfaction indexes have moved into different directions - Handelsbanken has highest corporate customer satisfaction index - Corporate customer Loyalty index in the Other banks group has dropped significantly - The Norwegians are the most dissatisfied and the Latvian most satisfied with their banks These are some of the results from the latest EPSI Rating study concerning banks in Finland. The same study was also conducted in the other Nordic and in all the Baltic countries. The interviews were done in August – September 2007. 
The results concerning private customers' satisfaction with their banks from the two last years are presented below (Graph 1.).  click for larger version  All banks have managed to improve their private customer satisfaction indexes. Those banks with the lowest scores last year, Nordea (71,6) and Sampo (69,8), are the banks who have managed to increase their satisfaction scores most - both banks by more than 4 index points. Nordea has improved especially its Value Index (by 4,8 index-points) and Sampo its Service Quality Index (by 4,8 index points). In Finland, private customers' satisfaction with their banks has increased consistently from 1999. In 1999, the index was as low as 70,7. This year, the Finnish private customers gave their banks an all time high customer satisfaction index of 78,2.  From the year 2000, the same banks have been measured. The change in their customer satisfaction indexes from year 2000 is presented below.  Also on long run, it can be seen that those banks with lowest scores in 2000 Handelsbanken and Sampo, have improved most. Handelsbanken as much as by 15,3 index-points. (Graph 2.).  click for larger version Customer loyalty has decreased, most in Other banks All banks have increased their private customer satisfaction indexes. However customer loyalty indexes have not increased, on the contrary, customers aim to be to less loyal to their own bank as earlier. See the loyalty indexes for each bank below.  As seen from the table above, nearly all banks have lower loyalty indexes, most in the Other banks group. Nordea is the only bank who has managed to increase its private customer loyalty index, from 74,8 to 74,8 by 1.4 index points. The results concerning corporate customers' satisfaction with different banks 2007 are presented below. When interpreting the indexes it has to be noted that the corporate customers of the banks are mainly small and medium sized companies.  The best satisfaction scores are given by the customers of Handelsbanken (80,9). Second was the group “Other” banks with an index of 77,8. Among other corporate banks, the best scores were given to Sampo (77,3), and then follow OP-group and Nordea with the same indexes (76,9). Finnish corporate customers´ satisfaction with their banks is exactly on the same level as last year 77,3 (on scale 0-100). However, the satisfaction indexes of the individual banks have changed into different directions. (Graph 3.).  click for larger version  The index of the group “Other banks” has dropped by 3.8 index points. At the same time Nordea has increased its corporate customer satisfaction index by 2,2 index points and Handelsbanken by 1,7 and Sampo by 0,2 index points. As a result, the gap in customer satisfactions between the corporate banks has become smaller. Also corporate customers’ loyalty indexes have decreased Corporate customer loyalty indexes are presented below..  As seen from the table, nearly all banks have lower corporate customer loyalty indexes than year before. The biggest drop is in the Other bank group. Its loyalty index has dropped by 5,4 points and next in OP group by 3,3.  click for larger version The EPSI studyThe data for the research was gathered by telephone interviews. The respondents were asked to evaluate the bank they primarily use. The respondents were selected by randomization procedures to participate to the research. The aim is to be able to interview 250 corporate and private customers from each major bank. This research is part of European Customer Satisfaction Research, EPSI Rating. It is coordinated by the Swedish Institute of Quality and the Stockholm School of Economics. European quality organizations are also backing the research. In Sweden, the same methodology has been in use since the year 1984, and it already covers a major portion of the Swedish economy. In Finland as well, it is the intention to gradually expand the research to cover the Finnish economy. In a few weeks, the results from telecom operators will be released. After that, studies on insurance companies, "do-it-yourself" chains, and electricity companies will be released. The research is coordinated in Finland by Dr. Juhani Kuokkanen. For additional information, please contact: Dr. Juhani Kuokkanen phone: +358 40 5093401, e-mail: juhani.kuokkanen@epsi-finland.org |