CBA has been crowned the top bank brand in the country, pinching back the title it relinquished to ANZ over the past two years.
The Brand Finance Banking 500 is a league table of the world’s biggest banks based on their respective brand values. In good news for most of the nation’s banking institutions, the vast majority of Aussie bank brands are growing rapidly with their combined values up 14 per cent year on year. According to the survey, the nation’s banks are now ranked ninth globally in terms of brand value.
The big winner this year was The Commonwealth Bank which usurped ANZ for top spot amongst the local players. CBA’s brand value rose 37 per cent over the past 12 months and is now said to be worth $A9.2 billion. CBA also had its brand rating upgraded to AAA-, which made it both the most valuable brand and the strongest too. CBA may be the top brand in the country, however, internationally it ranked in 29th position.
Of the Aussie banks, ANZ’s brand polled second (38th internationally) and was worth $8.1 billion. Westpac was third (45th internationally) and was worth $6.9 billion. While NAB was last of the ‘big four’ (49th internationally) and its brand is said to be worth $6.2 billion.
The two biggest local improvers on this year’s list was St George Bank, which moved into the top 100 for the first time. While CBA subsidiary, the New Zealand-centric ASB Bank, jumped 38 spots to be the ninth most valuable banking brand in the country (244th internationally).
Brand Finance Australia Managing Director, Mark Crowe, said of the results: “Overall the Australian banks have performed exceptionally well and achieved outstanding results. Increased brand strength will enable the banks to remain very competitive through building loyalty and minimising customer churn.”
According to the Brand Finance Banking 500 the American institution Wells Fargo remains the world’s number banking brand. The survey estimated its brand value at just shy of $US35 billion. An increase of 15 per cent from 2014.
