The new internet bank in Estonia is a significant improvement over SEB’s previous version there and raises the bar for internet banking in the country. Initial reactions from clients and local media have been positive.
“After nearly two years of planning, preparing and developing we now have the most modern internet bank in Estonia with world-class solutions and applications. This is a level that no other bank in our country can easily catch up with,” says Riho Unt, head of SEB in Estonia.
A cross-border success story for SEB
In many ways it has been a cross-border co-operation success story for SEB. While the design was developed by Group Marketing in Sweden, the technical solution was built by an in-house development team at SEB in Estonia.
“Our new design takes much better into account the customers’ behaviour and preferences on the internet today. We also present the SEB brand in a more focused and relevant way. I see very good business and marketing opportunities in this,“ says Ylva Lipkin, head of Corporate Identity and Design.
SEB will over time change to the new design on all its other internet banks and external web sites as well. The new design does allow for adapting to local needs and requirements.
Customer needs in focus
SEB has put much effort into investigating user needs in focus groups and in-depth interviews before launching the new Estonian internet bank. The bank’s specialists have tested prototypes, used social media for feedback and had some 2,500 customers involved in testing a beta version before making it available to all customers last week.
“Initial feedback during the testing period was extremely positive. Many customers even took the trouble of writing us special thank you notes for job well done, which is a rather rare thing for Estonian customers,” says Toomas Lindma, manager for the project and head of the team that delivered the solution.
Particularly the integrated financial planning tool is highly appreciated and SEB plans to reuse this and other experiences in its other two Baltic markets. The bank has started to plan for upgrades to its internet banks in Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden too but have set no official launch dates yet.