Industry Surveys
Australian, Asian Banks Shine In Brand Value League; Wells Fargo Stays Number 1

In the age of brands, which bank has the most valuable one in the world? An annual league table suggests that a West Coast-headquartered US bank is still top of the heap, while Australian and some Asia banks are doing well.
Australian banks have logged rises in their brand value, while
HSBC, the Hong Kong/London-listed banking group, and Asia’s ICBC,
all feature high in annual rankings of 500 financial firms
produced by Brand Finance.
The top bank for brand value is US-listed Wells Fargo, retaining
the same position as a year before; HSBC is second, up one place;
Bank of America is third, also up a place, and Citi is fourth, up
one; Chase is fifth, down from second, while ICBC is sixth, up
one; BNP Paribas is seventh, up from ninth; Santander is eighth,
down from sixth; China Construction Bank is 9th, down from
10th.
Other banks of note are Agricultural Bank of China (10th); MUFG
(11th); Bank of China (12th); Barclays (13th); JP Morgan (14th);
Deutsche Bank (15th); Royal Bank of Canada (16th); Sberbank
(17th); Toronto Dominion (18th); UBS (19th) and Bradesco
(20th).
The Brand Finance Banking 500 survey is an annual study
conducted by Brand Finance, a brand valuation firm, and published
in The Banker. The world’s biggest banks are ranked by
their brand value, with the results reflecting industry trends
and indicating future developments.
The report noted that Australian banks have fared well in the
charts; almost all of them saw their brand value go up.
Australia’s top bank brand, ANZ, has added $93 million to its
value, resulting in a total brand value of over $5.9 billion and
a rank of 39th in the world. Westpac has also had a successful
year. It has grown its brand value by 19 per cent, a rise of $793
million, bringing its total to $4.9 billion.
The fastest gains have been made by the lower ranked bank brands
however. BT Financial Group has grown by a whopping 94 per cent
to a total brand value of over half a billion dollars. This means
it places 203rd globally, having jumped 93 places up the global
rankings. Suncorp is up 28 per cent while Bankwest has also seen
an increase of over 20 per cent.
Wells Fargo, the top firm in the charts, had a total brand value
of over $30 billion. HSBC’s brand value has grown by $4 billion,
while UBS’ is up $3.35 billion, a 46 rise.
There have been reverses, however, such as in BRIC countries,
namely Russia, India and Brazil. Brazil, Russia and India
national brand value totals are down 6 per cent, 13 per cent and
23 per cent respectively. China, however, continues to grow
strongly. Its banks have added a total of nearly $19 billion and
there are now 3 Chinese bank brands in the global top ten, the
report said.
QNB is the Middle East most valuable bank brand for another year
with a brand value of $1.8 billion. However banks from the
UAE represent the greatest total brand value of any Middle
Eastern country, with a combined brand value of nearly $6
billion.
In the ASEAN region, DBS is the most valuable brand, moving up to
54th place in 2014 from 58th place.
2014 brand values are calculated in dollars with a valuation date
of 1/1/14. The value is determined by looking at the royalties a
corporation would have to pay to licence its brand if it did not
own it, known as the “royalty relief” method. As well as a brand
value, each of the 500 brands in the table is accorded a brand
rating; a benchmark of the strength, risk and potential of a
brand relative to its competitors, similar to a credit
rating.