Responsible product governance
The shared product governance principles of the Savings Banks Amalgamation are described in the product governance principles. Product governance is a comprehensive product lifecycle management process that includes product development, approval of new products and monitoring of existing products. The purpose of product governance is, among other things, to ensure that the interests of customers and the management of conflicts of interest are taken into account at each stage of a product’s lifecycle.
Responsibility and sustainability factors are also taken into account in product governance. Sustainability factors refer to issues relating to the environment, society and employees, respect for human rights and the prevention of corruption and bribery. The purpose of responsible product governance is to ensure that the sustainability factors of the product correspond to the responsibility targets and preferences of the target customer group. For example, the entire portfolio of Savings Banks’ Asset Management is aligned with the Responsible Investment Policy of Sp-Fund Management Company Ltd, and we always take ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors into account in our investment process.
The product area director for financing has the managerial responsibility of lending products and their sustainability. The Managing Director of Sp-Fund Management Company Ltd has the managerial responsibility of responsible for the products of Savings Banks’ Asset Management and their sustainability, reporting to the Board of Directors of Sp-Fund Management Company.
We share information on our products and their quality openly and responsibly. For example, we report carefully on the performance of all our investment products and share risk information and ratings on our website. Performance and risk ratings are also communicated to our customers as part of the investment advice process. In addition, we use product suitability analysis in targeting products to customers.
Every six months, we release a responsible investment review for the funds that we manage, reporting publicly on the performance, risks and impacts of the funds based on our ESG tools and our comprehensive review. Savings Banks’ Asset Management continuously assesses and monitors the risks and opportunities related to the environment, society and good governance, including social impacts and risks. We also regularly train our personnel on the our responsible product offering and their marketing.
Tools and mechanisms for customer feedback and complaints
The Savings Banks Group wants to provide an excellent customer experience and is committed to listening to its customers’ feedback and possible complaints. Customers can give feedback by using the form on the website, via the online and mobile banking interfaces, by telephone, or in person at a branch. Our customer service and sales teams have the tools and mechanisms to receive and investigate complaints, customer feedback and taking corrective action.
We handle all customer feedback uniformly and justly, in accordance with the procedures and principles specified in the Amalgamation’s guidelines on the handling of customer complaints and feedback. Customer complaints and feedback are processed and recorded promptly and carefully, in accordance with the guidelines. Acute cases are corrected immediately, and in other cases, the customer receives a response without undue delay via the customer’s preferred channel of communication. The executive directors receive regular summaries of the complaints and feedback. The Compliance function also regularly monitors customer complaints and feedback.
Customer complaints and feedback are used in the continuous development of operations. We record the development ideas we receive from customers in the system of the Savings Bank in question and assign them to a designated person in the bank who will evaluate the development idea and, if necessary, initiate action to develop the bank’s service or products. If the bank finds that a development idea is feasible but cannot decide on the implementation itself, the development idea will be sent to the Savings Bank Centre’s product manager in charge of the product sector. Our aim is to develop customer satisfaction, and we monitor and report on our customer satisfaction metrics on a regular basis.