Africa: Standard Bank Rated Africa’s Most Valuable Banking Brand

Standard Bank has been named Africa’s most valuable banking brand following a 26% increase in brand value to US$1.583 billion, according to the latest report by Brand Finance published in The Banker magazine today.

Standard Bank’s impressive increase saw it inch ahead of its South African compatriot, First National Bank (brand value up 18% to US$1.581 billion), to claim the title with a margin of just US$2 million.

Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the biggest brands to the test, and publishes nearly 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. The world’s top 500 most valuable and strongest banking brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Banking 500 ranking.

Overall, there are 20 African brands in the ranking, with South Africa dominating the African continent with seven brands featuring – six of which sit at the top of the continental ranking with ABSA (US$1.437 billion), Nedbank (US$1.018 billion), Investec (US$992 million), and Capitec Bank (US$625 million) joining Standard Bank and First National bank at the top.

Outside of South Africa, Nigeria boasts five brands in the ranking with Access Bank (US$379 million) the nation’s most valuable, Egypt and Morocco each have three, and Kenya has two.

Commenting, Declan Ahern, Valuation Director at Brand Finance, said, “Standard Bank’s impressive performance comes off the back hard work over the past few years, with the brand’s reputation steadily increasing since 2019.

“The new brand positioning “It can be” announced mid-way through 2020, alongside continued diversification and adaptability, have clearly paid dividends. Overall, the performance of African brands has been overwhelmingly positive across the board this year, and highlights the impressive strides made by brands from the continent in recent years.”

Brand value of world’s largest banks grows for first time in three years. Looking at the ranking from a global perspective, the world’s top 500 banking brands have turned the tide on brand value contraction for the first time in three years, observing a 9% year-on-year brand value growth to reach an all-time high of US$1.38 trillion

The brand value of the world’s largest banks shrunk by 2% by the beginning of 2020 (US$1.33 trillion) and a further 4% by 2021 (US$1.27 trillion). Initially caused by economic uncertainty and interest rate movements, the situation was exacerbated by the pandemic, which saw profit and interest rates take a hit.

However, as nations continued to adapt to COVID-19 and economies rebounded over the past year, loan loss provisions were much less significant than initially forecasted by industry experts. Furthermore, improved digitalisation by banking brands, coupled with a strong government intervention and economic recovery around the world resulted in a higher than expected industry profitability in 2021.

While this year’s overall brand value growth is undoubtedly a positive sign for the industry, it signifies a meagre 2% increase from US$1.36 trillion, which was the combined pre-pandemic brand value of the world’s top 500 banking brands in 2019.

Particularly in Europe, banks are still feeling the effects of COVID-19, where weak profits are not helped by cost inefficiency and insufficient investments in digital technology.

David Haigh, Chairman & CEO of Brand Finance, said, “As banks continue to battle the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of a solid brand is more significant than ever. Banking products are becoming more commoditised, and banks will need to continue differentiating themselves from other competitors in the market, through the use of their brand, particularly in the face of an emerging threat from challenger brands and decentralised finance in the future.”

“Many of the world’s largest banking brands have come through the worst of the pandemic stronger – a testament to the role they have played in supporting the real economy through the past 12 months,” said Joy Macknight, editor of The Banker.

“Banks’ digital transformation efforts over recent years meant they were able to respond faster to client needs, as well as deliver new products and services, which has boosted banks’ reputations in the eyes of their retail and corporate customers.”

Chinese banks dominate ranking

Chinese banks maintain the lead in the Brand Finance Banking 500 2022 ranking, accounting for one third of total brand value and worth a cumulative US$454.4 billion. While their global counterparts saw drops in brand value over the past two years, Chinese banks remained largely impervious to these issues.

A significant factor to this success was not only the nation’s timely response to the virus but also the early and continued investment into digital development, allowing Chinese banks to continue engaging with their customers with relatively little disruption.

Over the past year, China’s economy has continued to recover steadily despite a complex and ever-changing domestic and international environment. In the first half of 2021 alone, the nation’s GDP increased by 13% year on year.

The world’s largest bank by total assets, ICBC’s brand value has increased by 3% to US$75.1 billion, making it the world’s most valuable banking brand again as well as the 8th most valuable brand across all industries in the Brand Finance Global 500 2022 ranking.

Over the past year, ICBC has continued to fare well with consumers and expand its portfolio, opening branches in foreign markets such as Mexico, Argentina, and most recently Panama. ICBC continues to outshine its competitors, holding a healthy brand value lead ahead of China Construction Bank (up 10% to US$65.5 billion) and Agricultural Bank of China (up 17% to US$62.0 billion), which rank 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Ahern said, “Chinese banks have performed extraordinarily well this year, with no signs of growth slowing down for years to come. This was undoubtedly aided by the country’s timely response to the pandemic, which reduced the level of economic disruption observed by its counterparts in Europe and the United States.”

US banks account for 5 spots in top 10

US banks account for almost a quarter of the total brand value in the Brand Finance Banking 500 2022 ranking, worth a cumulative brand value of US$313.7 billion.

Of these 76 brands, Bank of America (up 12% to US$36.7 billion), Citi (up 7% to US$34.4 billion), Chase (up 5% to US$30.1 billion), Wells Fargo (down 6% to US$30.1 billion), and JP Morgan (up 23% to US$28.9 billion) have held on to their spots in the top 10 of the world’s most valuable.

Dropping 1 spot in the ranking to 8th position, Wells Fargo is the only bank in the top 10 with a contracting brand value. Wells Fargo continues to be undermined by the account fraud scandal, where it emerged that the bank had forged millions of savings and checking accounts on behalf of its clients without their consent. The scandal continued to bring about financial and legal consequences in 2021.

Regional leaders

Looking beyond East Asia and North America, HSBC (12th, up 6% to US$18.0 billion) is the most valuable banking brand in Europe, Singapore’s DBS (39th, up 11% to US$8.7 billion) leads the way in Southeast Asia, State Bank of India is number #1 in South Asia (43rd, up 29% to US$7.5 billion), and Itaú (51st, up 30% to US$6.6 billion) dominates in Latin America.

The largest financial institution in the Middle East, QNB has consolidated its position as the most valuable banking brand in the region, observing a healthy brand value growth of 16% to reach US$7.1 billion.

QNB also rose three spots to 45th place overall, now firmly situated amongst the 50 most valuable banking brands in the world.

Brand Finance CEI said, “QNB’s growth outpaced the average of the top 50 banking brands, reflecting the hard work put behind the brand and business over the last few years. The brand has acted as a unifying force across its operations, which have benefitted from the significant investment in digital services for retail and corporate clients, and has helped consolidate QNB’s position in the top 50 of the Brand Finance Banking 500 ranking.”

New entrants

30 newcomers have joined the Brand Finance Banking 500 2022 ranking this year, including two African new entrants – Kenyan Equity Group (338th, brand value US$388 million) and Morocco’s Bank of Africa (466th, brand value US$200 million).

Equity Group has joined another Kenyan bank in the ranking – Kenya Commercial Bank (366th, brand value US$338 million), which itself saw an impressive 61% brand value increase this year.

The growth in brand value of Kenyan banks is the result of their strong performance in Brand Finance’s original market research, which was introduced in the country for the first time this year.

High scores from the consumer survey have boosted the overall brand strength evaluation of the Kenyan brands, which in turn has boosted their brand value.

Of all new entrants across all countries, with an eye-watering brand value increase of 181%, Cadence Bank has entered the ranking as the fastest-growing brand of 2022, reaching a brand value of US$403 million. The US-based bank has recently entered into a merger agreement with BancorpSouth Bank, which held a brand value of US$266 million in the 2021 iteration of the Brand Finance Banking 500 ranking.

As part of the agreement BancorpSouth has rebranded to Cadence Bank. The merger aims to provide more customer and relationship-focused financial services to Cadence Bank’s extensive customer base across the southern US.

BCA as sector’s strongest

Apart from calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.

Certified by ISO 20671, Brand Finance’s assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 100,000 respondents in more than 35 countries and across nearly 30 sectors. Read: TikTok Named World’s Fastest-Growing Brand

According to these criteria, Indonesia’s BCA is the strongest bank in the Brand Finance Banking 500 2022 ranking, following a +2.5 point increase to reach a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 94.0 out of 100 and an elite AAA+ brand strength rating.

As one of the biggest banks in the ASEAN region and Indonesia’s largest lender by market value, BCA has performed strongly across key metrics, particularly those pertaining to customer satisfaction. In Brand Finance’s original market research, BCA outperformed its peers for reputation, quality and scored highly for value for money.

“BCA’s performance is an excellent example of the importance of customer relationships in building brand loyalty and reputation. The brand has consistently scored favourably across brand strength metrics for the last few years, now reclaiming its spot as the strongest banking brand in the world.”, Ahern said.

South Africa’s Capitec Bank has claimed the spot of the second strongest brand in the Brand Finance Banking 500 2022 ranking, boasting a BSI score of 92.4 out of 100 and a corresponding AAA+ brand strength rating.

Despite having only been around for 22 years, Capitec Bank has already overtaken many of South Africa’s traditional banks, becoming the second-largest bank by market cap. The brand continues to position itself as the nation’s leading retail franchise, delivering a low-cost alternative to traditional banks and has already built a strong, loyal customer base.

This helped boost Capitec Bank’s rank as 6th in the world for familiarity, 3rd for its quality of services, and it was noted as the 5th easiest bank to deal with. As the brand continues to uphold a customer-centric business model focused on providing low costs and high-interest rates on deposits, it remains poised for further success.