Awards

Our customers like our local, personal approach. Here we present a selection of accolades and results from surveys involving the Handelsbanken Group.
Award

Awards and survey results

Sustainable Brand Index

Handelsbanken is perceived as the Swedish banking industry's most sustainable brand, according to Swedish consumers.

We carry out ambitious sustainability work throughout the bank. Products such as Energikollen and Go Climate, in combination with sustainability representatives working in the branches close to our customers, have yielded results in how the bank's brand is perceived.

Sustainable Brand Index™ is Europe's largest brand study with a focus on sustainability. In the 2024 study, 29,000 Swedish consumers answered questions about which brands they perceive to be the most sustainable. The survey covers 432 brands and 36 industries.

The Banker has named Handelsbanken Sweden’s “Bank of the Year 2023”

Handelsbanken was acclaimed “Bank of the Year 2023” in Sweden by the Financial Times’ periodical ‘The Banker’, which covers the global banking sector. The distinction was awarded to Handelsbanken on the basis of its ambitious sustainability work and stable profitability.

“We build long-term relationships and grow alongside our customers. This has been a successful business model for over 150 years,” says Carina Åkerström, President and CEO of Handelsbanken.

“While most banks have committed to be net zero by 2050, Handelsbanken has set an earlier target of 2040 and announced its first targets for reducing GHG emissions in its real estate financing portfolio,” reads the jury’s reasoning. 

The award serves as further acknowledgement of Handelsbanken’s long-term competitiveness and robust business model. 

“The starting point for Handelsbanken’s development and innovation is always our customers’ needs, and this is especially true of our sustainability work. It is hugely gratifying to see that The Banker has highlighted ‘Energikollen’, which is available in our digital meeting places. The service helps our mortgage customers with advice on energy-saving measures, which it is possible to finance via a green loan,” says Catharina Belfrage Sahlstrand, Chief Sustainability and Climate Officer.

Handelsbanken is Europe’s safest bank

Handelsbanken is the safest commercial bank in Europe, according to Global Finance’s ranking of over 500 banks worldwide.

“Personal, long-term relationships with our customers, coupled with strong finances, are the cornerstones of our way of running a bank,” says Carl Cederschiöld, Handelsbanken’s CFO.

Handelsbanken earns top marks for customer satisfaction in all its home markets

Handelsbanken once again has the most satisfied customers among the major banks in Sweden*, receiving top marks from both personal and corporate banking customers in all its home markets (UK, Norway and the Netherlands). This is the result of the latest annual survey SKI Bank 2023, carried out by Swedish Quality Index/EPSI Opens in a new window.

*Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB och Swedbank

Sustainability Yearbook 2023

To be listed in the Yearbook, companies must score within the top 15 per cent of their industry and must achieve an S&P Global Sustainability Score within 30 per cent of their industry’s top-performing company. Handelsbanken is proud to be among those to have reached this distinction.

Business Bank of the Year & Sweden's Small Enterprise Bank 2023

In Sweden, Handelsbanken has returned as Business Bank of the Year. This according to corporate bank customers in this year's independent Finansbarometern survey. We are appreciated by small and large companies alike, and this year we are awarded both titles Business Bank of the Year and Sweden's Small Enterprise Bank.

Thanks to our high level of service, customer care and digital services, we have more satisfied customers than the other banks in the survey. Our way of dealing with the digital transformation without losing our personal approach to our corporate customers is one reason behind the high ratings.

Finansbarometern is one of Sweden's largest independent market surveys, focusing on how companies view their banking relationships. The customers rate their banks depending on how satisfied they are in total, but also based on price, digital services, advisory services, service offer and service level. This year, the market survey attracted responses from around 1,300 companies, and the result is based on responses from companies and organisations with more than 100 employees, as well as from small enterprises with 1-20 employees.

Global 100 most sustainable companies 2024 – Corporate Knights

Handelsbanken, ranked at number 82, is one of only three Swedish companies included among the top 100 most sustainable corporations in the world by Corporate Knights.  The Global 100 list is an annual ranking of organisations' sustainability performance, administered by the independent consultancy Corporate Knights.