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...

It's a tough time for banks to go out and talk to people with all the negative attention focused upon them. Australian bank Ubank has taken a bold approach to getting noticed. It's gone out and produced a series of webisodes that explain the current situation in a pretty informative and a fairly...

Nice visual from JP Morgan on current market caps for banks around the world.Via Paul Kedrosky Posted by Ed Cotton

Obviously, it's critical to make sure your brand and products are relevant to current consumer needs. The financial downturn has given banks and investment houses the opportunity to re-connect and show how they can be useful in challenging times. Wells Fargo has responded to this need by creating...

Top Gear presenter, Jeremy Clarkson- a wealth man made rich by celebrity vents his frustration at the banking system and the current crisis. "As I sat there on that horrible Monday, watching the whole financial world on the brink of collapse, I thought back to all the midnight oil I’d...

Here's a great visual from The Deal that explains the packaging and re-marketing of credit. Sort of explains how the badness was turned into goodness and everyone slept soundly at night until the day they realized the badness was real bad. It's also the system that propped up the consumer economy....

Posted by Ed Cotton

Interesting article in the London Times about Barclays and its approach to branch re-design. It picks out Apple stores, The Science Museum and obviously, Tesco, as being inspirations for the project."At the beginning of last year, Ms Oppenheimer poached Helen Dodd, a retail design expert, from...

This is a really nice idea. Smarty Pig is a site that helps people save for specific goals and allows friends and family to contribute to those savings plans. Traditional banks should look at this because the 2.0 companies are snapping at their heels with innovations like this. Thanks to...

Brand voice has the power to transform how people see your brand, especially if you use it in the right places.In 2006, Barclays Bank in the UK undertook an interesting experiment to try and transform the branch experience. While most typical branch enhancements revolve around design, this...

There are some very rare occasions when brand strength doesn’t matter because the an event comes along that's so huge it threatens the stability of your business and your brand. Such an occasion happened last week to the Northern Rock bank. Media images of people lined up to withdraw their...