Two majors see growth in brand value

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study was commissioned by global communications services group WPP and conducted by global researcher Millward Brown Optimor.

The survey combined measures of brand equity with interviews with over two million consumers globally.

CBA was the fifth-placed most valuable regional bank brand in the survey, up from seventh place in 2013.

"The Commonwealth Bank of Australia made the biggest climb in the Regional Bank Top 10, up 18 per cent to $21 billion," said the report.

ANZ was the only other Australian bank to feature in the 2014 regional top 10, with a brand value of $19 billion.

The report found customer trust in banks has not returned since the global financial crisis and scores for both regional and global sectors remain below pre-recession levels.

The report found that regional banks scored ahead of their global counterparts on trust and also scored better for meaningful differentiation.

“However, this is often a reflection of the more favourable ratings in their home markets, and on both scores they still have work to do to recover to pre-recession levels,” the report stated.

“Tracking of trustworthiness and recommendation for financial brands shows that while regional banks indexed 104, against an average brand score of 100, this was down from 111 in 2008.

“Global banks fare even worse, scoring 92 in 2014, compared to 101 in 2008 and 94 in 2013.”

The most successful banking brands are HSBC, which retained its position as the number one global bank and grew its brand value by 13 per cent to $27.1 billion, while Wells Fargo took top spot in the regional bank chart, up 14 per cent at $54.3 billion.

“Global banks still have a challenge to build a meaningful connection with consumers and improve trust scores generally,” Millward Brown Optimor managing director Nick Cooper said.

“Like many major players in categories that are not yet truly global, they find it hard to compete on trust with more locally-based operators,” Mr Cooper said.

“Nevertheless, some progress is being made and the improvements in the global economy have created a more positive climate that could allow bold brands to take big strides in this regard and form a tighter, closer bond with communities around the world,” he said.

In the global ranking, Google overtook Apple to become the world’s most valuable global brand in the 2014 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, worth $159 billion, an increase of 40 per cent year on year.

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study is now in its ninth year.

It is the only ranking that uses the views of potential and current buyers of a brand, alongside financial data, to calculate its value.