OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2013. Thanks to the high-quality service rendered to its business clientele, Uniastrum ranks among the country’s Top-25 customer-focused banks.

The ranking follows a survey conducted by New Marking Solutions agency aimed at discovering and gauging the various credit terms and conditions offered to small and medium-sized businesses. The survey was performed using mystery shopping techniques, whereby a mystery consumer working for the agency asked banks for details of their loan terms with regard to replenishing working capital, overdrafts, and unsecured bank guarantees.

“Uniastrum Bank is committed to raising the quality of its customer services. One way of doing this is by conducting regular in-house service assessment programs using mystery shopping. This enables us not only to monitor compliance with corporate standards and evaluate the effectiveness of training courses and staff performance, but also to gain important information regarding the work of the Bank’s network as a whole,” notes Nadezhda Kibalnik, Deputy Chair of Uniastrum’s Management Board. “Needless to say, it’s in our interests to encourage customer loyalty by providing convenient and cut-price services, and our efforts in this area are therefore considerable. One result of these efforts is the Bank’s high customer centricity ranking.”

Uniastrum Bank is one of Russia’s biggest SME financers, offering a wide range of lending programs specially designed for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as comprehensive cash management and other services.

Rankings complied by Expert rating agency for the first half of 2013 show Uniastrum placing among the country’s Top-20 banks by SME credit portfolio size, as well as in the Top-10 for loans issued to sole proprietors.