Hana Financial Research Institute: "Overseas Financial Companies Are Undergoing Brand Renewal"... Digital Optimization

Hana Financial Management Research Institute Report Capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] Global financial companies have embarked on brand renewals to optimize their brands for the digital environment.

According to a recent report titled “Brand Renewal Strategies of Global Financial Companies in the Digital Era” published by Research Fellow Youngsun Oh of Hana Financial Management Research Institute on the 9th, global financial firms have pursued corporate brand renewals over the past 2 to 3 years during their digital transformation processes.

It is notable that financial companies, which generally have longer renewal cycles and take a more conservative approach compared to consumer goods companies, have recently changed their brand designs consecutively.

Global banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America (BoA), HSBC, Spain’s Santander, BBVA, and payment service companies like American Express also replaced their brands around the same period.

In particular, HSBC replaced its brand after 154 years, American Express after 43 years, and BoA after 20 years, indicating their focus on “delivering a new image.”

Examining the characteristics of these companies’ brand renewals, they maintained the core assets of their brands while replacing logotypes and symbols with more intuitive forms. The companies retained their signature colors to uphold authenticity, while many applied a ‘sans-serif’ typeface without protruding strokes at the ends of letters in their logotypes.

Additionally, the brands of global financial companies replaced letters such as ‘a, n, r, t, d’ with rounded shapes, making them visually easier to read at a glance.

Wells Fargo made subtle changes to its typeface and changed the bank name’s color from gold to white. Although a minor change from a graphic design perspective, it was evaluated to have a visible effect. BoA’s brand deepened its blue color, and the flag shape symbolizing the American flag was modernized into a more refined form.

Santander’s brand enlarged the flame motif, which has been used since 1857, to emphasize dynamism, and the curvature (the rate of change representing the bending of curves or surfaces) was also altered.

Research Fellow Oh said, “Brand renewal is not simply a design change but an expression of the will to reinvent.” He added, “Banks expanding their businesses in the global market can form a unified identity and pursue global synergy through brand renewal.”

He continued, “Domestic financial companies are also expected to promote brand renewal in a direction that enhances visibility through strengthening digital channels and activating open banking.” He noted, “Renewed brands require sufficient prior planning as large-scale projects applied simultaneously to digital channels, signboards, and various forms. Especially for financial groups, all affiliated companies must implement brand renewal at once, and since enormous signboard replacement costs occur, brand renewal is feasible only when its purpose and effects are clear.”

Furthermore, Research Fellow Oh pointed out, “It is effective to reflect global trends in design, but it is also necessary to consider story development and delivery methods for the brand.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.