Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

MONEY

Bank staff under threat due to cash shortage

Swedish banking giant Nordea’s decision to stop all cash handling at certain offices is exposing staff to threats and offensive behaviour, according to the Financial Sector Union of Sweden (Finansförbundet).

Published: 2 September 2011 14:56 CEST

Bank staff under threat due to cash shortage

“It is the people who greet our customers face to face that are forced to meet all the complaints,“ said Jessica Johansson of the union to Sveriges Radio (SR).

She said that the threats are often verbal, customers complaining about the drop in service.

“It can be anything from personal slurs to more concrete criticism,“ she said to SR.

In many instances guards have been called to solve threatening situations and the union now urges all its members to report any threat they feel directed at them.

But according to the head of information at Nordea, Helena Östman, the threats that have been reported have nothing to do with queues or waiting times.

“The small number of threats that staff have received is about other things. Some customers can get very irate with the personal questions that we are obliged to ask due to money laundering laws,” she said to TT.

Today Nordea has 200 offices that handle cash.

It is, among other things, the risk of robbery that has made the bank actively work to decrease the cash handling in many offices.

Customers are also increasingly doing their banking online, according to the bank.

“We have great understanding for customers getting irritated by the long waits, but in general queuing times haven’t increased,” said Östman to news agency TT.

But Gunilla Klingberg, a Nordea customer, turned around when she realized how long she was going to have to wait to cash a cheque.

“It is remarkable. I think that there are 40 numbers before me. They’ve just closed down the service at my local office so I cycled over here to get cash. So, this is very bad service,” she said to SR.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

How to protect your Swedish savings when the stock market tumbles

Stock market volatility can be unsettling, especially when it hits close to home.

On Monday, the Stockholm stock exchange mirrored global market turmoil, with the OMXS index dropping 4.8 percent in morning trading. By 11 am, there was a slight recovery, but the index remained 2.6 percent down.

READ MORE: Stockholm stock exchange opens in the red amid global market jitters

Big names in Swedish industry weren’t spared: Boliden, a major mining company, dropped 3 percent, defence giant Saab fell 1.5 percent, and engineering firm Sandvik declined by 2.6 percent. In the banking sector, SEB took a 2.4 percent hit, while Swedbank dropped 3.6 percent.

This turbulence in the Swedish market came after significant drops in Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which experienced its most significant one-day fall since the 1987 Black Monday Crash, and similar declines in markets across South Korea, Frankfurt, London, and anticipated losses on Wall Street.

In these uncertain times, many Swedish consumers with money invested in the market wonder whether they should do something to safeguard their savings.

Avoid impulsive decisions, expert warns

Stock market volatility can raise concerns about the safety of your savings, but according to SEB household economist Américo Fernández, there’s no need to panic.

“Should they be worried? I mean, no. I would say that this is how the stock market works: there’s a lot of uncertainty and risk connected,” he told The Local.

“When you have savings on the global stock exchanges, this will happen, especially when we’ve had at least six months of really, really good returns – maybe even too good. Then, this is a little bit expected.

“But of course, it’s always dramatic when we have such developments in the stock market in just one or two days.”

Slow and steady wins the (investment) race

For those wondering how to protect themselves against such crashes, Fernández emphasised a consistent and steady approach to investing.

“The most common thing, the best strategy for the broad masses, is to save on a monthly basis. And this is what many Swedes do; our surveys show that 9 out of 10 Swedes save on the stock market every month. This is precisely what you should do: invest in a mutual fund, which is quite common in Sweden,” he said.

“In circumstances such as these, you buy more at a lower price, instead of timing the stock market, which is almost impossible, continue your monthly investments through mutual funds. That’s a good way of diversifying your portfolio.”

READ ALSO: Will the krona’s decline stop Riksbank from cutting rates?

Ignore the alarmist headlines

The SEB household economist also advised against reacting hastily to alarming headlines.

“Another thing that households should be aware of is that when you see alarming headlines, you should sit and calmly ride the wave out.

“It’s understandable that a lot of people are affected by herd mentality when we have these negative headlines. Everyone, but especially households with tiny savings, acts and sells, and then they buy again when the headlines are positive, when the stock exchange is at high levels…

“That is the opposite of what you should do. Try to neglect these things and be cool in these circumstances, even though it seems bad and hurts your wallet. However, if it hurts your wallet too much, that might be a signal that you have too much money in the stock market (laughs), which can be common for younger investors. Although they have had it pretty good recently,” he noted.

This advice is not only applicable to Sweden but also relevant across Scandinavia, according to Fernández.

“I think it’s applicable. Across Scandinavia, all Nordic countries save a lot of money on the stock exchange, partially because the pension system isn’t fully funded by the government,” he said.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!