Banking Is About People: Inside OP Bank’s Strategy for B2B Relationship Building

This interview features Raminta Vileniškienė, the Communications and Culture Manager at the Lithuanian branch of OP Corporate Bank. OP Financial Group is one of the largest financial companies in Finland, a cooperative bank with over 2 million customer-owners, offering retail and commercial banking services, as well as insurance. OP Corporate Bank Plc in Baltics, responsible for financial services to large and medium companies in in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Raminta brings over twenty years of experience in financial services marketing, communication, and related areas from previous roles at companies like Gjensidige and Nordea. She aims to increase the bank's visibility in the market and foster pride among colleagues for their achievements.

Raminta discusses OP Corporate Bank's strategic positioning in the competitive Lithuanian market, how in unique business model operating bank builds and maintains relationships with major clients. She also shares her insights into the professional challenges she faces and how the bank stays relevant in a rapidly changing information environment.

To begin with, let's talk about your bank's positioning. Here in Estonia, Vilnius is often seen as the financial capital of the Baltics, and we're a bit envious of Lithuania's thriving fintech scene. But what is the bank's actual positioning? It's interesting, the logo – when I was a small kid, my dad used to go to Finland quite often during the Soviet era. I even had a ski hat with this logo on it. It was Kansallis-Osake-Pankki back then, a different name. But I remember this logo from my childhood.

Yes, that logo has stayed almost exactly the same for 123 years. So the brand itself is incredibly old, well-known, and reputable. 

In Finland, brand awareness is actually 100%. Because it's a cooperative of banks under one master brand, every Finn is, to some extent, a customer of OP bank. That's why it's such a well-established bank. 

Lithuania is #1 fintech hub in the EU with 282 active companies serving over 30 million European customers as of 2024.  We have 19 banks (13 with bank/specialized bank licenses, 6 foreign branches) here in Lithuania.

In the Baltic countries, we've had a history here as the OP brand for 13 years. We initially focused solely on working with exceptionally large and medium size corporations. Perhaps that's why our investments into brand awareness and B2B marketing were very modest in the past. However, with a strategic change the approach towards communication and visibility in the Baltics shifted. 

The Baltics are the only foreign countries where OP operates. Our contribution to the overall business is becoming increasingly more important for the OP group and OP Corporate Bank in general. Consequently, we began investing much more in visibility here in Baltics.

I joined OP two years ago, and while we certainly didn't start from scratch – it is a well-known brand – for Lithuanians, Estonians, or Latvians, it was perceived as a rather interesting, the biggest Finnish bank with corporate branches of large corporations in Baltic countries. 

We've started to alter this perception of visibility and communication here in Baltics. We position ourselves as a leading bank for leading companies, both local and foreign, and  we want to showcase our expertise, our Finnish background, values, and everything, to a wider audience. 

The biggest challenge is the ambition to be top of the mind for our customers, keep leading position and stay relevant in B2B communication for the customers.

That's why we naturally became more active, initially on social media, as all our customers are on LinkedIn. Of course, our major channels are traditionally Äripäev, Verslo žinios and a few Latvian business publications. We're initiating publicity, including success stories with our customers. We've started supporting a number of events and initiating our presence as speakers at business events, associations, etc.  

We operate on a pan-Baltic level, working with my communication and marketing colleagues in Latvia and Estonia. We have 60 people here in Lithuania,  43 in Latvia, and  40 in Estonia. But in terms of market size, we are significant player with  a 3 billion euro portfolio. Compared to some local or even Baltic retail banks, we are bigger. Our market size in the corporate business sector is quite substantial.

How do you acquire customers? You mentioned your marketing was quite modest or low-key previously. But somehow you need to attract those customers. What was the strategy?

The strategy is quite straightforward. Firstly, direct contact with customers. Another aspect is showcasing our expertise at various conferences and events where large corporations are present. 

Naturally, the brand itself, with its long history, values, and Finnish background, is a factor. We are the only Finnish bank here in Lithuania; all other major banks have Swedish or other capital. Of course, credit ratings are also crucial. We hold the highest credit rating in this region, which is a very important feature for large corporate deposits, savings, or current accounts. 

Another key point is that while we operate locally, we gain significant expertise from the main group in Finland. We receive very sophisticated, markets, cash management or trade finance products and solutions expertise, which are specifically applicable to customers. This is our one of the advantage.

Furthermore, we steadily growing our customer base. So, our customers, as it were, g We often say it's almost like private banking for corporations.

I'm quite sure that Swedbank and SEB would use exactly the same arguments, given they're from Sweden and possess similar know-how. Essentially, let's say I were playing a role-playing game, and I was the CFO of, say, Telia here. You would present these arguments to me, but the SEB and Swedbank representatives would tell me the same thing. So, how do you truly stand out? Their brand awareness is much stronger because of their retail banking presence; everyone knows them. And they've likely been active in all the media and conferences as well.

We offer quite quick, tailor-made decisions. I'm not claiming we don't face challenges; we certainly do. But operating in unique business model here allows us to be more agile and flexible.

Our customers are loyal because once they join us, they genuinely receive a tailor-made service, and they truly value that. Despite the increasing prevalence of AI and digitalisation, banking is still fundamentally about people, about the terms and conditions, about mutual relationships, understanding, and going the extra mile when necessary. 

We say we are a big corporation for big and leading companies, and that is the truth. Every year, we conduct a customer survey, asking for areas of improvement, what isn't working well, and what they appreciate. Our customers have been with us since we started operations in the countries, as it were, and they are growing and their needs are evolving. And I think word of mouth also plays a significant role. And, of course, the conditions companies receive should be competitive.

Well, at this premium level, one considers how to maintain those relationships. That often brings to mind golf tournaments, yacht trips, and other high-level corporate entertainment. But society is also changing, and what was acceptable 20 years ago may not be now, particularly concerning certain types of entertainment. What are the currently accepted ways of corporate hospitality that are still considered appropriate in the workplace?

Knowledge sharing, I would say. Everything is evolving so rapidly that sharing knowledge, providing good examples, and inviting our customers to hear from other customers about their business experiences is valuable. 

We're not talking about theoretical concepts; we're inviting people from the OP group to speak to our customers, hosting events with meaningful content rather than just wining and dining, as you mentioned. Our customers are quite prosperous, so they can certainly wine and dine independently. But they genuinely enjoy meeting colleagues from other companies at these conferences and having the opportunity to share, chat and learn something new. 

We recently hosted a conference here in Vilnius in April and invited Reijo Heiskanen, the chief economist of the OP group, to speak. It was just after Trump announced all the tariffs, so it was extremely relevant for businesses. 

Another key difference or advantage is that it's not just the CFO, CEO, or owner communicating with the bank daily. Many people from treasury, from accounting, from cash management – specialists within large corporations – are interacting with bank specialists on a day-to-day basis. The quality of service, the speed of reaction, providing solutions, or resolving customers requests quickly is also a very important part. It's not just about the high-level interactions, but how the bank communicates professionals-to-professionals on a daily basis.

That's a really interesting point. All the research indicates that the number of people involved in B2B decision-making is increasing. Perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, it was only two or three people, but now it can be up to 12 involved in the process. So, you actually need to influence people even at the intern, secretary, or assistant level. Now, the question is, in your business, how many people are typically involved, and how is the decision made if someone is using bank A or B today and wants to switch to your bank? Who makes those decisions?

It's primarily a management decision to switch banks or to start using an additional bank or one more bank. Let's be honest, all these large corporations utilise the services of several banks. And not just in the Baltics, they use European banks as well; it's very common practice. 

At the management level customers are deciding where to grant loan, or where to conduct their cash management operations, for instance. It's a quite important decision. Let's say if a real estate developer wants to build a new shopping centre or something similar. They are likely talking to different banks, negotiating conditions. 

And what can be challenging sometimes, if you're driven by very quick decisions, it's not easy working in a large corporate bank because all decisions and outcomes take time. So, you need to have patience. Because if our head of sales and our country manager, along with the senior relationship managers, begin negotiations, it can sometimes take half a year or even longer because we're dealing with significant deals, large investments, and state investments. 

Corporate banking business involve a close cooperation with the customers. Financing customer investments, projects takes time from meeting the customer to the loan granting. So we establish long term collaboration with our customer; we're long-distance runners.

Speaking of that, image-wise, one might think that, okay, you should be contributing to society in some way, perhaps sponsoring the national team or a major event like a song festival, or something similar. Because, you know, if you're involved in national-level projects like energy or a port, you really need to be operating at the same level within society. How do you achieve that? 

It would be wonderful to have, as it were, the marketing budget to sponsor truly notable events like the song festival. But realistically, we should consider the priorities include ,include sponsorships which specifically focus on business and follow the Group guidelines.

For instance, we have been a very long-term partner of Leadership conference Tipping Point (Lūžio taškas), which takes place in Palanga annually, bringing together more than 600 decision-makers from the companies.  We operate wherever our customers are.

How do you measure the impact of these events? The question often arises: a sponsor provides a substantial amount of money, and then it's very difficult to measure the actual ROI of that investment. What are your key performance indicators?

That's a good question, a tricky one. It's about networking and investing in relationships. But how do you measure that? Well, our portfolio is growing, number of customers is also growing. We gradually promoting our experts to share opinion and expertise on economic and business trends. It's about maintaining loyalty and visibility for the same, keeping the image of experts.

We receive feedback from customers and from market professionals, well-known individuals who discuss economics and related topics. We receive genuinely positive feedback about our presence and the expertise we bring. 

So, while we can certainly measure all those standard KPIs, and we do measure our increasing share of voice,, and we are seeing growth. 

What's the biggest professional challenge for you? What keeps you awake at night? Perhaps you sleep well, but, you know, it's a rhetorical question.

The biggest challenge, naturally, is the ambition to be top of the mind for our customers, keep leading position and stay relevant in B2B communication for the customers. Because, you know, we have so much to communicate to the market, but it's crucial not to stray from our path. 

The effectiveness of our communication, based on our measurements, which I'm very proud of, shows that we are indeed staying on the right path. We aren't jumping from topic to topic. We consistently discuss things like people, sustainability, and diversity – that's one clear path. We talk about customer deals, highlighting what's important for society. We leverage the group's expertise on the economic outlook and all the macro factors. But we are careful not to promote anything that doesn't align with our target audience. 

Another challenge is to gather all the essential information. The sheer volume of channels and information flow is immense. So, it's about not getting sidetracked by less important messages but focusing on what is truly significant. All the major changes happening in society, not just economically, but everything is important because it matters for our customers. It's about not missing something truly impactful that's developing.

You mentioned it's important to be relevant to your customers, but how do you understand what's important to them? How do you gather this information?

What's really helpful to be part of local management team and be involved in business and daily questions. Communication with customers happens daily, and we share insights. Naturally, confidentiality is paramount; it's our guiding principle. But we talk, share, sharing links to information sources. We are a very close team.

I've also noticed, as a journalist, that, say, 20 years ago, if someone wrote an opinion article in the main newspaper, like Lietuvos rytas here, the entire society would be discussing it. Now, every day, you have a hundred opinion articles everywhere, and none of them seem to gain much attention.

It's genuinely difficult to stand out from all the background noise.

Everyone in our organisation, reads main business news as a primary source. We also read BNS news, The Economist to get a deeper understanding of what's happening, because reading everything would be impossible.

Everyday communication with customers is truly beneficial for our team. What's also perhaps important to mention is importance of internal communication. And once a month, we have Office days. It's nothing particularly different from other organisations, but we genuinely want our people to be on the same page, share results, discuss our progress, where we face challenges. Just, you know, having those conversations, not just written updates, but talking to each other, helps everyone feel dedicated and responsible for the final outcome. Having your team on the same page is very important.