SEB Merchant Banking has beaten the Danish banks in their home market to claim pole position in the 2005 Danish bond market survey published this week by the Danish financial magazine, Okonomisk Ugebrev.
SEB says the article reports that Danish banks have lost their pricing advantage in the local bond market and that advisory services are now the critical element in the competition for clients.
“Clients’ needs today are divided between advisory and execution services,” says Peter Holtermand, SEB’s global head of Capital Markets. “Execution has become commoditized; large amounts are traded through electronic platforms with low margins. This has reduced the potential to differentiate on price, while at the same time advisory services have become more and more of a priority for clients.”
SEB scored 10.2 points out of 13 in the rating by Okonomisk Ugebrev – almost one point higher than Carnegie in second place with 9.3 points and third placed Danske Bank on 9.2. Nordea slipped from its traditional first place to fourth.
“Our team is trained to have a value-added approach rather than being strictly execution-oriented,” says Hltermand. “When you call a client it should be because you have some value to offer. Our clients are busy people and in our experience this strategy has proved to work.”