The Handelsbanken story began over 150 years ago in Sweden. Stockholm's Handelsbank was founded on a commitment to pursue 'true banking activities' with a focus on a local market. It wouldn’t be until 1970 that our then CEO Jan Wallender, would build on this original ambition and introduce our unique decentralised approach. Growing across Scandinavia initially, we arrived in the UK in 1982, where we now have an extensive network of branches supporting individuals and organisations with their financial needs.
What makes us so unique?
A decentralised model empowers each branch to work directly with customers, making key decisions and handling all aspects of their banking locally, where each customer has their own account manager. This approach was born out of Wallander’s belief that those closest to the customer know how to help them, and the best way to do that is by building long-term relationships.
It’s unusual in banking, but we don’t believe in short-term bonuses or sales and product targets, without them our colleagues are working to satisfy customers, driven only by the desire to do the right thing. It’s really what’s at the heart of our culture; the support and guidance we give is always what’s best for the customer, not us.
We’re Europe’s safest commercial bank
Our focus on relationship-led banking, coupled with a cautious approach to risk, has seen us rated as the safest commercial bank in Europe, in Global Finance Magazine’s ranking of the World’s Safest Banks 2023. Find out about our strength, stability and more in our annual report below.
