Influx

Richard Branson has just announced plans to launch a high street bank in the UK by 2011. It’s likely Virgin will acquire a player to make this happen.

On the surface, it appears there could be a better time for Virgin to enter the banking sector. A time when the credibility of the established players is at a historic low and with Virgin having a legacy of taking on the established players and offering an alternative.

However, some big questions remain.

1. Does Virgin still have credible challenger DNA?
2. Is Virgin the brand that consumers would trust for their daily banking needs?
3. What’s Virgin going to do that’s different from banking as usual?

Clearly, Virgin can’t rely on it’s brand alone and is going to have to provide innovative products and hopefully, a lot of transparency to being a credible offer to this space.

Posted by Ed Cotton