Danske Bank Group wishes to establish and develop long-term customer relationships.
Loans and credits
Loans and credits are extended on the basis of a professional credit assessment. It is in both the Group's and the customer's interest that credit is extended only when the customer can manage the obligation.
The Group undertakes a careful evaluation to obtain an understanding of the customer's financial situation. Sometimes this means that the Group must refrain from extending loans to specific customers.
Retail customers
With our retail customers, Danske Bank's policy is to offer professional advice that ensures that the customer understands the consequences of borrowing, saving and using the Group's financial products and services. We evaluate our customers' future as well as current ability to repay obligations.
Corporate customers
In the corporate lending area, the basis for the assessment of a customer's creditworthiness is its financial situation, external financial factors and an evaluation of the customer's ability to operate a business. Danske Bank Group generally offers credits to all industries as long as the customer is creditworthy and complies with applicable laws, including environmental laws.
In the long run, it is the Group's expertise and responsibility in credit assessment and advice that ensure that its customers avoid situations of financial default. The Group therefore places an emphasis on maintaining its credit standards during both prosperous economic periods and difficult ones. In 2012, Danske Banks approves 93% of loan applications from personal customers.
Ethical guidelines for credit
In 2011, we began to cross-check Danske Bank’s credit exposure against the Group’s SRI exclusion list to ensure that we are not doing business with companies that violate our social, ethical or environmental guidelines. While this was a step in the right direction, the process revealed a need to further develop our business procedures for managing ethical risks related to corporate customers.
In 2013, we will develop of a specific set of guidelines for particularly sensitive sectors that will be implemented in the credit policies and procedures for the Business Banking and Corporates & Institutions credit units.
Last updated on 7 February, 2013.