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The Essence of Danske Bank

Our Essence is the foundation on which we build our business. It defines who we are, what we want to achieve, how we will compete, and what our values are.

It consists of our vision, strategic core, customer promise and core values. 

Our customer promise

We help customers be financially confident and achieve their ambitions by making daily banking and important financial decisions easy.

 Strategic core

We are a modern bank for people and businesses across the Nordics with deep financial competence and leading innovative solutions.

Our vision is to be recognised as the most trusted financial partner

Our core values

  • For us, expertise is about

    • delivering competitive financial solutions through the strongest knowledge, skills and technology
    • listening to the customer and providing relevant advice and offerings
    • being a proactive guide for our customers
    • knowing when to make a decision on the spot and when to get back with the answer
    • dealing constructively with mistakes and always learning from them
    • acknowledging a diversity of opinions and including differing perspectives
    • hard work, training and continuous learning at every staff level
    • striving for best practice externally and internally at all times
    • being humble about individual competencies and knowing that we are stronger as a team
    • delivering our messages in a simple and understandable manner
  • By integrity, we mean

    • ensuring that our values are never compromised
    • having high ethical standards and conducting business in an orderly manner
    • being reliable and always keeping our word and fulfilling our commitments
    • being honest, transparent and predictable
    • eliciting confidence through high quality, precision and promptness
    • treating others with respect
    • acknowledging our impact on society and living up to our responsibilities
    • contributing responsibly to the communities we serve
    • building and maintaining good relationships with our key stakeholders
  • To us, creating value is about

    • being aware that long-term shareholder value is created by delivering value for customers
    • understanding customer needs and helping customers achieve their ambitions
    • taking the initiative before our customers even express their needs
    • enabling and supporting strong individual performance and rewarding customer-centric behaviour
    • empowering people to take action
    • contributing to the success of our customers, employees, shareholders and the societies of which we are part by running a solid business
    • being aware of how we create shareholder value
    • being cost- and capital-efficient
    • simplifying and optimising the way we work
    • working constantly to deliver improvements and innovations
    • setting ambitious goals and striving for excellence in all that we do
  • When we talk about agility, we mean

    • adapting continuously to changes in our business and market environment
    • innovating our offerings and services by understanding and responding to changing customer needs
    • understanding and staying ahead of the trends that reshape our industry
    • continuously improving the customer experience
    • finding new ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency
    • embracing new knowledge and alternative practices
    • making things simple, convenient and easy to understand
    • challenging existing procedures and behaviours
    • being accessible and fast in our responses
    • being nimble and able to take advantage of new opportunities
    • finding new ways to navigate through complexity
  • To us, collaboration is about

    • including the perspective of external and internal stakeholders
    • being part of finding the best possible solutions for the customers and the Group
    • being helpful and supportive towards customers and colleagues
    • encouraging dialogue and discussion followed by strong execution
    • taking ownership regardless of organisational borders
    • providing constructive feedback and helping others to succeed and grow
    • challenging others on the basis of understanding and expertise
    • being attentive to people and straightforward
    • sharing the work load as well as the successes
    • encouraging initiatives and engagement
    • sharing ideas openly to co-create solutions