Financial firms are having an ongoing identity crisis. Received a Check Card offer from your mutual fund lately? How about a mutual fund from your insurance broker? Yes, confusing, isn’t it?

From 1970 onwards, market innovations and competition in the financial sector have compelled state and federal regulators to ease Depression-era restrictions on financial institutions – most notably banks. Banks and their holding companies have been permitted to improve the nature and variety of their financial products, pay market interest rates on most deposits, and expand across state lines. This has meant head-to-head competition in some cases, and no one knows where it will all play out.

The trend toward deregulation culminated in 1999 when the Glass-Steagall Act separating banks from securities firms and insurance companies was repealed in congress. Now banks can combine almost every financial service you can imagine into one big “financial holding company.”
As you can imagine, this has created some severe branding problems. No longer will we see a bank that offers just checking, for instance, it may also offer a vast array of risky or just plain odd financial products.

And so how should larger financial institutions, who are (oddly finding themselves) competitively required to enter into all these product offerings, presenting their new brand to the world?

Today we will look at two brands - or more specifically the logos of brands, and hopefully in the days to come we will investigate a few more.

Credit Suisse has eliminated the “First Boston” sub-brand and moved away from the monolithic modern blue and red, to re-enter it’s sailing past with two fore-sails bravely leading the way into an uncertain future.

Here is the logo before 1997:



Here is the "modern" logo till January of 2006:


And here is the current "post modern" logo:



The new look is dynamic, flowing and progressive. I like it and believe it is both reassuring and will do well for Credit Suisse. I like how the type is pulled forward by the sails.

However, it must be said that the balance, heredity, tone and – modernity – of the old 1997 brand is quite striking and it is worth wondering why they didn't try to evoke it more directly.


Phoenix home life, a life insurance, annuities and asset management company has proceeded from a very contained, strong and resilient mark:



and more recently:


And here is the current curvaceous “phoenix” rising:


I dislike it immensely for a financial services firm, I believe it looks both light and flowery when it should be strong or forward-looking. It reminds me of a hotel chain or some spa brand.

Labels: Fine Financial Branding