BankingCorporate to Bank RelationshipsKudos for Canadian Banks in Bank Strategies Report

Kudos for Canadian Banks in Bank Strategies Report

Top marks are awarded to Canadian banks in an assessment of retail banking strategies within the top 100 global banks.

Published by Lafferty Group and written by international financial journalist Darrell Delamaide the report, entitled ‘The Global 100’, ranks, uses rankings of ‘focused’, ‘fuzzy’ and ‘fragile’, in considering the approach to retail banking as described in each bank’s most recent annual report.

Top ranked are Canadian banks, with all five receiving a ‘very focused’ rating. Generally, it is those banks with a strong regional focus that are viewed as having a clear retail strategy, whereas the large global players (including some large US, German and UK banks) are less likely to exhibit the same commitment to retail banking.

Countries whose banks within the top 100, almost without exception, receive ‘fuzzy’ ratings include China, Italy, Japan and Russia,

Explaining the methodology used, the group’s founder Michael Lafferty said: “Our determination of whether a bank is focused, fuzzy or fragile in its retail banking strategies is based on what the banks say about themselves.

“The bank that anchors itself in retail banking and demonstrates its commitment with an activity report that puts retail in its right place – at the beginning – is credible from the very start. And a comparison of stock market indicators for highly focused banks and the remainder shows how important this is.”

The main ratings used in the report are summarised as follows:

  • Focused: Institutions that have developed a clear strategy, with specific objectives, that is described in detail in their report to investors.
  • Fuzzy: Describes a situation where the bank’s brand and goals remain unclear to an outside observer.
  • Fragile: Refers to institutions that ‘even if they put on a brave front, are clearly back on their heels’.

The report notes that the ‘fragile’ rating ‘is a defensive posture that applies to some of the world’s biggest and most renowned banks, from Barclays or RBS in the UK to Bank of America in the US’, banks that have been hard hit by the financial crisis.

They have been left weakened and have been forced to ‘shed business, rebuild capital and in general retrench’, leaving questions as whether they will be able to ‘regain their footing’.

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