OREANDA-NEWS. January 21, 2008. According to a survey results, Raiffeisen Bank Aval and PrivatBank are perceived to be the market leaders, the press service of Gfk reports. When asked enumerate the respectivestrong points of the two leaders, it is noteworthy that respondents believethe PrivatBank network of ATMs and branches to be more extensive, and see PrivatBank as both dependable and reputable. Raiffeisen Bank Aval, according to respondents, is a prestigious and modern bank.

Oschadbank is perceived as a simple and open bank that has been on themarket for a long time. Ukrsotsbank comes closest to the Oschadbank’s image of a simple and open bank, although respondents found it difficult to assign Oschadbank an image. UkrSibbank, OTP Bank, Nadra Bank, and Ukreximbank are seen as group of similar institutions—young, modern, and developing banks, honest with their clients, but not market leaders.

As for service characteristics of the banks, PrivatBank and Nadra Bank are seen as banks offering services for the wider public. PrivatBank is most often associated with credit cards, plastic salary cards, and car loans. Nadra Bank is associated with consumer and car loans.

Raiffeisen Bank Aval, UkrSibbank, and Ukrsotsbank are most often associated with mortgages, i.e. providing services for personal clients with high income levels, as well as services for large corporate clients. Oschadbank is associated with utilities payments and—to a somewhat lesser extent—with pension accounts, deposit accounts, and money transfers. On a 5-point scale of banks’ reputations, PrivatBank (3.9 points) and Raiffeisen Bank Aval (3.8 points) received the highest scores. Dependability tops the list (at 27%) of factors shaping a bank’s public reputation. Other factors included the working style of bank personnel and the overall prestige of the bank (both at 14%). Also important are a bank’s openness, its fulfillment of obligations towards clients, the modernity of the bank, honesty, and perception as a leader.

The conclusions are based on the data from a public survey conducted September 10–30, 2007. The survey sampled a total of 1,000 respondents. The sample is representative for the population of Ukraine over 16 years old, by gender, age, region of residence and settlement size. The survey used F2F interviews. Bank image questions were answered by all respondents who knew this bank by name, unaided or aided. The questionnaire used the list of 8 banks: Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Nadra Bank, OTP Bank, Oschadbank, PrivatBank, Ukreximbank, UkrSibbank, and Ukrsotsbank. In order to identify characteristics and services differentiating banks, the method of correspondence analysis was used.

GfK Ukraine is a Ukrainian research company, offering a comprehensive range of survey services and market research in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. GfK Ukraine is a member of the worldwide GfK Group, with HQ in Nuremberg, Germany. The GfK Group is the No. 5 market  research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The Group has 115 companies covering over 90 countries. Of a total of approximately 8,760 employees (as of September 30, 2007), 80% are based outside Germany.