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HSBC Named the World’s Most Valuable Banking Brand as European Banking Brand Values Plummet

• HSBC, the only British bank among the ten most valuable banking brands, knocks Bank of America off the top spot in the Brand Finance Banking 500.

• 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, shows that HSBC has leapfrogged Wells Fargo and Bank of America to become the world’s most valuable banking brand in 2012. This strong performance from the London-based banking giant stood out in its region; European banks performed miserably, making up 16 of the 20 “fallers” on the table.

While Europe continues to be beset by economic uncertainty and the ongoing troubles of the Eurozone; 2011 saw the meteoric rise of the emerging economies reach a crucial tipping point.  Today’s table shows brands from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries now outnumber their European counterparts among top 20 banking brands.

US banks continued to fare well when compared to their European counterparts, with Wells Fargo holding firm in second position and strong performances from both 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.

Commenting on this year’s report, 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$746.7 billion. 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.”

Brian Caplen, Editor of The Banker, says: "While European banks have found the going tough in branding terms, banks from other parts of the world have fared much better. Canadian and Chinese banks, for example, are very prominent in the table of absolute brand value winners showing that it isn't only emerging markets that are benefiting from Europe's difficulties."

The full results appear in the February 2012 issue of The Banker, go to wwww.thebanker.com.

For the complete Brand Finance Banking 500 report and further information, go to www.brandfinance.com

Downloads

• Banking 500 Press Release