Martin's Rubber has a progressive yet traditional approach to business, and the turmoil in the banking sector since 2008 has been a major concern to us. The Banking crisis which so nearly caused financial meltdown was not principally driven by poor Business lending, and yet the major UK banks have reacted by drastically changing for the worse their relationships with these very real customers, to the point where local bank managers have very little remit or autonomy to make decisions. This is coupled with a general unease at the stability of the major UK clearing banks, and has led us to reconsider our options and seach for a more traditional bank, for the first time in at least 75 years.
Having looked widely at the market we have now decided to move to another bank, one you may not have heard of called Handelsbanken. Based in Sweden, Handelsbanken is extremely well founded and was recently rated as being the second strongest bank in the world financially. In Sweden it conducts retail and business banking and has a small trading arm, however in the UK it has a network of 100 business only branches. We have chosen it based on firstly its financial strength and secondly because it aims to operate a decentralised business model that allows it's local branches freedom to make decisions. See http://www.handelsbanken.co.uk for more details.
It is early days yet in our new relationship, but so far we have found the staff we deal with are knowledgeable, locally experienced time served professionals, and in talking to other businesses who have already made the switch, we do not anticipate problems. Indeed, Handelsbanken staff say that they are seen as a "boring" bank, which seems to us quite attractive after the astonishing actions of senior UK bankers in recent years. In order to facilitate the changeover, our accounts department has already been in touch with all our customers to inform them of the new details for settling accounts.
Not having changed banks in living memory at Martins, this is a new experience for us, and, needless to say, we expect our new relationship to be there for the long term. If you have any questions about this development, please do not hesitate to contact either your regular member of staff here at Martins, myself or Paul Hooper.
Author: Adam Hooper
Date : 16th December 2011
