Tough economic conditions have seen the brand value of the world’s banks decrease for the second year in a row, according to the latest report by consultancy firm Brand Finance.
The annual report found that nearly two-thirds of the world’s 500 most valuable banking brands have recorded brand value losses in the last 12 months.
The Brand Finance Banking 500 recorded an increase of 10 percent in the total value of all the brands analyzed in 2018.
The following year the value rose another 15 percent, but in the 2020 report it was down 2 percent.
In this year’s report, covering the period during the coronavirus pandemic, the total value was down 4 percent to $1.27 trillion.
“Banking institutions were the main culprit in the last financial crash; this time around they are a large part of helping people overcome the repercussions of COVID-19,” said Brand Finance CEO David Haigh.
“Brand Finance research shows that banks’ responses to the global pandemic have led to a year-on-year increase in overall reputation scores among customers, which no doubt could result in an uptick in brand values in the coming year.”
Chinese banks continued to dominate the rankings, accounting for one-third of total brand value and seven of the 10 top climbers by absolute brand value.
Despite a 10 percent drop in brand value to $72.8 billion, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China remains the world’s most valuable banking brand.
“This is undoubtedly an effect of China’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has allowed its economy to continue functioning relatively unscathed, allowing space for banks to grow further,” said Haigh.
Bank of America was the biggest in the US, valued at $32.8 billion, despite a 7 percent drop. The other top US banks on the list were Citi (down 3 percent to $32.2 billion), Wells Fargo (down 22 percent to $31.8 billion), Chase (down 8 percent to $28.8 billion) and JP Morgan (up 3 percent to $23.6 billion).
The top-ranked banking brand in Saudi Arabia was Al-Rajhi Bank at 81st, down 1.7 percent to $3.4 billion, followed by National Commercial Bank (110th), Riyad Bank (185th), Samba Financial Group (212nd) and Saudi British Bank (237th).
The top UAE banking brand was Emirates NBD at 74th, down 9.7 percent to $3.7 billion.
The fastest-growing banking brand was the Union Bank of India, up 163 percent to $1.2 billion.
