“Crisis Creates Opportunities...?” : En kvalitativ studie inom banksektorn som studerar konsekvenserna av Swedbanks penningtvättskris

Sammanfattning: This essay is about brands linked to the Swedish banking sector. The reason why this topic waschosen is based on the increased importance of the brand in global markets, where there isunfortunately a lack of studies that examine brands in the banking sector. A central point ofdeparture in the study is Swedbank's money laundering crisis that was discovered in 2019,where both the consequences of this crisis were linked to Swedbank's own brand as well asfour other brands in the banking sector. The purpose of the study is to contribute increased knowledge about how Swedbank's moneylaundering crisis affected its own brand and four other brands in the banking sector.To achieve the designed purpose of the study, two research questions have been formulated:(1) How was Swedbank's brand affected and restored as a result of the 2019 crisis? And (2)How did Swedbank’s 2019 crisis affect other major banks and non-major banks from a brandperspective? The study has applied a qualitative method approach where primary data has been collectedthrough eight semi-structured interviews, where the respondents have been selected with helpof a goal-directed sample. The theoretical framework, from which this paper is based on, isBenoit’s theory “Image Restoration Theory (IRT)”, while “Spillover” is applied to examinehow competing brands to Swedbank are affected by Swedbank’s crisis in 2019. The results of the study indicate that Swedbank’s brand has been affected to a large extent,where special activities have been conducted with the aim of restoring the brand’s reputationand trust. The biggest consequence because of the crisis can be described as reduced trust,combined with the fact that the brand has become less selectable. For example, Swedbank haschanged its strategic direction, as well as reworked the brand’s vision and purpose. As for thetendency of the crisis to affect other brands in the banking sector, the effects can be seen asrelatively vague. Two of the banks considered themselves not to have been affected at all, onebank considered themselves to have been negatively affected and one bank consideredthemselves to have been positively affected. On the other hand, there was a large consensusthat Swedbank’s crisis reduced the confidence of the banking sector overall.