OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2011. The annual survey of the awareness and imago of major companies conducted by TNS Emor showed that Swedbank is the most reputable large company in Estonia for the fourth year in a row, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.

The CEO of Swedbank Estonia, Priit Perens, believes it is impossible to be the most prestigious company without making an effort in relationships with clients and partners. “We have made a big change in our direction in the last couple of years and moved our focus from offering products to our relationship with our clients,” says Perens. “We believe that we have achieved some success there and our weekly internal client feedback surveys also confirm this. The same was now confirmed to us by an external source. This title is very motivating and shows that we are going in the right direction and it makes us try even harder. I would like to thank everyone for the trust they’ve shown in us.”

Perens says that the new direction chosen by the bank focuses more on counselling and educating clients than the products offered by the bank, but means that the bank also tries to offer various easy-to-use and innovative solutions. “Our clients can rest assured that the bank first tries to find out what the client wants and then offers them the services and products that are suitable for them,” says Perens. “We are also constantly developing new solutions to make it easier for clients to look after their money matters. The newest product we launched is the mobile bank application for smartphone users.”

The survey shows that the imago indices of companies are improving. Retail companies, including food stores, have risen in the table in comparison to the previous year. Many food manufacturers and large infrastructure companies, who were influenced the most by price increases in their sectors, fell in the overall table. However, not one sector has recovered to the same high level they held at the end of the economic boom.

The purpose of the survey of the awareness and imago of large Estonian companies is to rank large companies operating in various industries on the basis of their overall reputation. The opinions of the Estonian people about companies are measured on the basis of two parameters – general attitude and image of strength. 986 residents of Estonia aged 15 to 74 took part in the survey in April and March 2011. The companies that were the best known on the basis of the survey conducted in the previous year (2011) and that are among the first one hundred companies in the Aripaev’s Turnover TOP 500, 78 large companies in total, were included in the survey.