HSBC only UK bank in top 10 brands

Chinese banks performed strongly with China Construction Bank, ICBC, Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China maintaining a successful streak for Chinese banking as they secure spots in the Top 20.

There are now more banks from the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in the top 20 banking brands than there are from Europe.

The Brand Finance Banking 500 report, released today, showed HSBC has leapfrogged Wells Fargo and Bank of America to become the world’s most valuable banking brand in 2012.

European banks meanwhile performed miserably, making up 16 of the 20 falls on the table.

US banks continued to fare well when compared to their European counterparts, with Wells Fargo holding firm in second position and Citi Group and American Express in sixth and seventh place respectively.

With five of the top 10 most valuable banking brands headquartered in North America, the US is recovering from the financial crisis much faster than Europe.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “The past 12 months have proved to be a very turbulent period for banking brands.

“We have seen a collective decline in brand value amongst the 500 banks in our report of $94.78bn.

“Despite this, the total value of the top 500 banking brands was US$746.7bn.

“The size of this number – which is equivalent to the GDP of Turkey – underlines the importance of brand value to the global financial sector.

“2012 is set to be a landmark year politically with the US election in November and polls in Germany and France too.

“In this context the eyes of the world will be examining the brand value of financial institutions, as an indicator of broader financial health of their respective nations.”