The concepts of environmental scanning and Business Intelligence have gained increased interest over the last years in a number of different organisational contexts. The research in this field has mainly been dealing with methods and issues regarding organisation but the aim of environmental scanning, the forming of new perspectives, has been largely ignored. The purpose of this thesis is to study how Swedish joint-stock banks put environmental scanning and Business Intelligence into practice. First a literature study is made to create a background and to explain the different conceptions. Then I describe the different functions of the different services in Swedish joint-stock banks. Questionnaires have been sent to these banks and I ask what sources and methods they use. I have compared models to analyse information retrieved from environmental scanning described in literature and asked if the banks uses these models or other. The results of this study indicates that the majority of banks experiences that their environmental scanning correspond to the need of information. Elements which have influences on that the information need not is 100% is first of all lack of economical resources and problems with methods and then lack of time. Almost half of the banks use the analyse model named SWOT which is frequently used in the literature in this field. The three most important factors for the banks to watch are competitors, customers, and the economic situation in the country.