In the overall ranking SEB has climbed from fifth place in 2017 to third place last year, and finished with a first place ranking this year. Respondents gave the bank the highest scores for personal contacts as well as industry knowledge and financial competence.
"During the past two years we have worked on coordinating ourselves better with relevant product areas such as Corporate Finance, DCM and Markets. And it has paid off," says Heidi Urbach, global head of Real Estate Coverage in the Large Corporates & Financial Institutions division.
In the survey, SEB received significantly higher scores in several areas, including strategic advice and customised solutions.
"We have worked a lot with proactivity, and even though we have improved, there is still potential for better reviews. This will be needed just to be able to defend our number one position," says Mikael Franzén, head of Real Estate Coverage Sweden.
Kantar Sifo Prospera's survey is limited to real estate companies and property management companies in the Swedish market, even though SEB as well as other banks included in the survey are also active in the Nordic region in general. In addition to Sweden, SEB has operations above all in Norway and Finland. The bank is a smaller player in Denmark as well as in Germany.
In all markets, Heidi Urbach wants to further strengthen SEB's ability to provide strategic advice to customers. According to the most recent survey, SEB is already best in the industry in Sweden, but according to Urbach, the scores can be even better.
"To be even stronger in strategic advice we need to understand how trends in society affect the industry. Then, together with customers, we will be able to contribute to lower risk and higher profitability."
Salient trends include digitalisation, sustainability-related issues and the impact of e-commerce on the industry.
Trailing SEB in Kantar Sifo Prospera's survey were, in declining order, Swedbank, Nordea, Handelsbanken and Danske Bank.