Last year, in this post, I reviewed the brand rankings of major financial institutions based on the Interbrand data published annually by Business Week. That data has just been released again for 2007, and following the same course as last year, I thought I'd look again at the league table for financial institutions and sound out the lay of the land.
Here is how it looks with 2007 added:
Institution |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Trend |
Citibank |
13 |
13 |
13 |
13 |
12 |
11 |
11 |
↑ |
American Express |
17 |
15 |
15 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
15 |
↑ |
Merrill Lynch |
19 |
25 |
27 |
26 |
21 |
25 |
22 |
↓? |
HSBC |
37 |
33 |
29 |
28 |
23 |
↑ | ||
JP Morgan Chase |
29 |
31 |
30 |
33 |
34 |
32 |
↓? | |
Goldman Sachs |
33 |
39 |
41 |
37 |
37 |
37 |
35 |
↓ |
Morgan Stanley |
26 |
26 |
27 |
36 |
36 |
37 |
↓ | |
UBS |
45 |
44 |
42 |
39 |
↑ | |||
AIG |
47 |
|||||||
ING |
88 |
89 |
86 |
81 |
↑ | |||
Allianz |
80 |
Now, last year, the point of interest for me was not who was on the chart, but who wasn't. I said:
What is eye opening in all of this is not who is on this list, but who isn't. Where is Detuche Bank, with a market capitalisation of 1,144 billion? Royal Bank of Scotland (1,119 billion)? Bank of America (1,110 billion)? Surely these are institutions which ought to be worried when their brands - so central to winning customers and driving differentiation - don't seem to cut the grade with the other big players?
This year, that's reversed. It's all about who is on the table: for the first time, insurers have made the list. That AIG enters with such a high score is also something I wouldn't have expected. As I noted last year, there are no new banks entering, unless you count Allianz with its regional banking operations out of Germany (of course, it is primarily an insurer).
And isn't it hard to call the story with Merrill and JP Morgan chase? Statistically, the brand rankings of those two is in decline, but actually, they've both recorded improvements this year. Perhaps they had a few years without their eyes on the ball, and they are now getting back on track.
Anyway, I'm continuing to wonder where the other major global banks are, since they aren't in the top 100. Its not as if, after all, they aren't spending in this area.
Update: Bob, in this comment, points out that I forgot to include AXA in the table. Axa entered this year also for the first time at position 49, two below AIG. So that makes three new insurers, and no new banks.
You missed AXA...
Posted by: Bob | August 03, 2007 at 02:26 PM
Thanks Bob - I've updated the post to reflect your correction.
Posted by: James Gardner | August 03, 2007 at 03:47 PM