Lloyds and TSB brands grow as UK banks see overall decline

The Brand Finance Banking 500, which assesses the financial value of Britain’s banking names, found UK bank brand value fell three per cent last year.

Lloyds Bank was the highest-performing Big Four bank, with 16 per cent growth in value to £4.4bn.

TSB, which was spun out of Lloyds Banking Group in 2013 as a condition of its 2009 government bailout, saw the largest growth of any UK banking brand. Its value climbed 21 per cent to £507m. Lloyds Banking Group’s Halifax brand also fared well, climbing 13 per cent to £2.4bn.

HSBC remained the most valuable UK bank, worth £17.5bn, but saw negligible growth of 1.5 per cent over the year. Second-place Barclays, worth £9.1bn, recorded just 0.2 per cent growth.

Both HSBC and Barclays were implicated in the foreign exchange rigging scandal last year. HSBC received fines worth $618m (£410m) from UK and US regulators, while Barclays remains under investigation.

Standard Chartered saw its brand value fall by almost £1.3bn to £3.3bn. The 28 per cent decline followed the bank’s $327m fine from by US authorities for violating sanctions against Iran.

Natwest and RBS saw value reduced by one and six per cent respectively.

Brand Finance chief executive David Haigh said a strong brand helps to retain business.

“As switching becomes easier and with nimble competitors emerging, some banks may have to rely on the power of their brand ever more heavily to hold onto customers,” he said.