Insights
Brand identity in mutual banking


Agreeing on a brand identity for a mutual bank, post-merger
Takeaways
- Mergers in the mutual banking sector will continue as participants seek scale and an expanded capital base
- Brand strategy is a pivotal decision: co-brand, merge brands, or create a new brand? This is a complex choice, with potentially far-reaching implications
- Determinants include how brand identities connect with target customers, existing brand equity & “stretch”, transitional impacts, benefits, costs, and risks
- SPP’s structured approach can assess the strength of your brands, investigate branding options and guide the development of a winning brand promise.
A clear, winning brand identity is crucial to retaining customer trust and delivering post-merger benefits
In the 1970’s Australia had more than 600 registered credit unions and building societies. Today there are ~60. This consolidation has given merger partners access to scale and an expanded capital base which can defray costs, especially investment in digitisation & technology to meet regulatory requirements and customer expectations.
Recent significant “mergers of equals” including Newcastle Permanent Building Society & Greater Bank and Heritage Bank & People’s Choice Credit Union have created new market-leading entities. However, the market remains fragmented. The largest 16 mutuals account for only 44% of assets. There is a long “tail” of small entities with ~30 mutuals holding <$1.7bn in total assets each.
Many small banks are in a position where an urgent cybersecurity project, an unanticipated compliance requirement or a few bad loans could tip them into the red. However potentially unpalatable, mergers will continue, but scale benefits must be realised with brand decisions being a critical determinant of success or failure to deliver the intended benefits of merging.
Brand identity is important to most banks, especially for customer-owned mutuals, where the brand promise is often intimately connected to a regional or professional heritage and their founding. Entities must consider how brand identity must evolve or stretch to attract a broader customer base while respecting their history and legacy.
Post-merger brand strategy is therefore a pivotal decision, with the potential to release efficiencies but also to alienate staff and customers. Consideration must be given to brand strategy prior to merger conclusion.
Brand strategy is a pivotal post-merger decision with potentially far-reaching implications
When mutuals come together as part of a merger, they have three primary forward-branding options:
- Co-brand: Merging entities retain their existing brands, keeping any distinct community connections, but at a cost,
- Merge into one of the existing brands: One partner’s established brand becomes the identity for the merged entity, with other brand(s) subsumed, or
- Create a new brand: Create a new brand that represents the promise of the combined entity. Existing brands are retired.
This complex choice has many facets and potentially far-reaching implications.
Key questions that will influence any decision include:
- How do your existing brand identities connect and align with target and existing customers? Are there formative links to a profession or geography that remain relevant?
- What is the existing brand equity? Can the reputation and trust of these brands be “stretched” into different categories, markets, or segments?
- What are the practical strategic options? What are the trade-offs of each option? What data is required to inform choices?
- How might technology influence the decision set? Will cloud-based technologies unlock new opportunities (eg. white-labelling, house-of-brands model)?
- What are the benefits – quantitative and qualitative – of each option?
- What are the critical risks? How will Members react? What actions should be taken to mitigate the most critical risks?
Important tactical considerations follow any strategic choice
- When and how will the brand strategy be implemented?
- How do we align the business behind this decision?
- What does an effective transitional approach could look like?
- How do we communicate the change to different stakeholders?
- Is there material brand goodwill to be addressed?
Mergers are infrequent for most businesses. They lack a “playbook” to guide them. Finding a trusted partner with experience of this (and other) critical post-merger decisions and processes reduces the potential for a mis-step.

How SPP can help
SPP brings extensive and relevant brand strategy experience and expertise to resolving a critical decision around overall brand strategy to secure and grow the customer base of any merger partnership. We have previously supported clients with activities including:
- Assessing brand value: Engaging with target customers and communities to assess their perceptions of existing brands and their strengths & weaknesses to determine ‘brand equity’ – the value of the brand beyond the functional benefits of products & service provided.
- Identifying brand scenarios: Working with client teams to define forward branding pathways that can secure and sustainably grow market share.
- Quantifying benefits and risks: The rigorous assessment of the quantitative and qualitative benefits of brand scenarios. Evaluation of any high-potential risks to determine mitigating actions.
- Defining an optimal path forward: Identification of the brand strategy that offers the maximum ‘brand leverage’ for future growth while minimizing risks to existing business and customers.
- Planning for brand transition: Defining a practical actionable plan to move from existing brands to a new brand identity including how to communicate the change.
Key Contacts
Noel Leung / Partner
Noel Leung is a Partner at SPP and is an experienced strategy consultant with more than 14 years of experience working with senior leaders of organisations in Higher Education, FMCG, Agribusiness and NFP sectors. She takes an evidence based approach...
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David Mackay / Partner
David Mackay is a Partner at SPP and he leads SPP's Sports, Media & Entertainment and FMCG/Retail practices. David assists organisations to develop and execute business and technology strategy, and improve business performance through people, process and technology. David...
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Daniel Lemcke / Partner
Daniel brings over 15 years of industry and consulting financial services expertise to SPP. With international experience across banking, treasury, transactions and trading domains, Daniel is focused on delivering practical outcomes.
Daniel is trusted by executives of leading Financial...
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Phil Noble / Founder and Managing Partner
Phil Noble is the Founder and Managing Partner of SPP. He is an experienced General Manager, Consultant and Entrepreneur and has worked in a wide range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, infrastructure and Not for Profit. Phil has...
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