Access, First Bank improves on brand valuation despite COVID-19 - research

Despite the devastating effects of Covid- 19 pandemic, Access and First Bank, two of the top tier one banks in Nigeria emerged as the major gainers in terms of their brand valuation, a Businessday analysis shows

According to data from a recent 2021 top 500 global valuable banking brands by United Kingdom-based Brand Finance, the world’s leading branded business valuation and strategy consultancy, out of the five tierone banks analysed, only two improved namely, Access bank which improved by 8.4 percent to $262 million in 2020 and First bank of Nigeria (FBN) improved by 8.4 percent to $210 million in 2020.

The rest of the tier one banks that regressed were Zenith which fell by 4.3 percent to $275 million, followed by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) which declined by 12.2 percent to $195 billion and United Bank of Africa (UBA), which fell by 18.6 percent to $188 million.

Typically, brand value is understood as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. Organisations own and control these earnings by owning trademark rights.

Babatunde Odumeru, Managing Director, Brand Finance Nigeria said, the impact of the pandemic still lingers with a slow economic activity and a decline in household income which has hurt revenue growth and brand value growth.

“However some of the banks that have focused on delivering a value-based marketing strategy which focused on consumer needs have managed to grow their brand value amid this pandemic,” Odumeru further said.

The firm used the royalty relief approach, a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668 (a standard for procedures and methods of valuing a brand) to calculate the values of the bank brands in its league tables.

It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a licensor would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.

Further analysis of the valuation data made exclusively to Businessday showed that Zenith Bank’s retained its position as the country’s most valuable banking brand, followed by Access, FBN, GTB and UBA ranking in 393rd, 405th, 456th, 473rd and 484th position respectively, out of the world’s 500 banking brands.

Globally, the total brand value of the world’s 500 largest banks declined year on year from $ 1.33 trillion to $1.27 trillion

“Few sectors have been as detrimentally affected by the pandemic as the banking industry, reflected in the overall brand value decline this year. Banking institutions were the main culprit in the last financial crash; this time around they are a large part of helping people overcome the repercussions of the pandemic,” David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance said.

9mobile has commenced the National Identification Number (NIN) registration exercise in select Experience Centres in Lagos and Abuja.

The development follows the Federal Government’s approval granting telecoms the license for NIN enrollment to ease the pressure of large crowd turnout at the various enrollment centres of the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

Speaking on the development, Stjepan Udovicic, chief commercial officer, 9mobile, stated that, “as Nigeria’s customer champion in this industry, 9mobile always seeks opportunities to collaborate with regulators and other stakeholders on initiatives that will enable Nigerians to achieve their full potential. We pride ourselves as a responsible corporate citizen, and we are always ready to go the extra mile for our esteemed customers and all Nigerians in general. That is why we are pleased to announce the commencement of NIN enrollment at select 9mobile Experience Centers duly approved by NIMC to help expand registration access to Nigerians ahead of the new deadline set by the Government for the exercise.”

According to Udovicic, 9mobile Experience Centres offering NIN registration include 43, Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island, Lagos; 31, Marina Road, Marina, Lagos and Royal Plaza, 23 Road by 402 junction, Festac Town, Lagos. Others are 9mobile Regional Office, no 8 Kikuyi close, off Aminu Kano, Wuse 2, Abuja and Plot 1774, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent. Wuse 2, Abuja.

He urged customers and intending enrollees to observe all recommended guidelines for limiting the spread of Covid-19, including wearing of face masks and maintaining social/ physical distancing, stressing that strict observance will be fully enforced at the experience centres.

The 9mobile CCO assured that 9mobile was working on expanding the NIN registration centres to make them accessible to even more Nigerians very soon.