by James Cerruti, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the BrandLogic Brand Strategy & Research Practice. The following article, appearing in Vision 2010, was published in conjunction with this year's SIBOS Conference, the world's premier financial services event.

In recent years corporate brands in financial services businesses, both retail facing and B2B, have become a major factor in the attraction and retention of clients, talent, partners and capital. In this industry it has not always been so, but in today’s crowded, highly competitive global marketplace, a strong brand can be a major source of advantage. Corporate brand salience has become particularly important in service industries, where economic value is delivered through intangibles and offerings are often seen as interchangeable.

In this article we will explore why brands matter in financial services, how their role has been changing, and the competencies required to create and sustain competitive brand advantage and the implications for business strategy going forward.

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About the author:

James Cerruti

Executive Vice President and the Managing Director, Brand Strategy & Research Practice
James brings to his senior role with Brand Logic over 20 years of experience in leading strategy, marketing and brand consulting engagements, in North America and worldwide. His consulting career includes executive posts as the President of Vivaldi Partners, a New York City-based marketing and brand consultancy; as one of the founding partners of FutureBrand, and as a Director with Coopers & Lybrand. His numerous brand strategy clients have included: Allianz, Bank of Montreal, CarlsonWagonlit Travel, CNA Financial, Deloitte, Deutsche Telecom, Dun and Bradstreet, First Union, FleetBoston, HyundaiKia Motors, KPMG, MasterCard International, Merrill Lynch, Olympus, PNC Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, RBC Financial Group, Remy Cointreau, Scudder Investments, Siemens, State Street Corporation, Telefonica, US Bancorp and Zurich Financial Services.

James holds an M.B.A. in International Business from the Monterey Institute and a B.A. from Antioch University. He is fluent in Greek and conversational Spanish and French. His work has been published in the Journal of Business Strategy among others.

About SIBOS and Vision 2010
The SWIFT International Banking Operations Seminar known as SIBOS is the world's premier financial services annual event. It is  sponsored by SWIFT (the primary standards setter for international payments and securities clearing systems). SIBOS conferences are  attended by executives from SWIFT member institutions (over 8,000 worldwide) and its broader community of interest from around the world. It is the leading international forum for airing and discussing issues facing financial services participants, especially as regards international payments and securities services. Vision 2010 is the annual  publication of  SIBOS received by all SWIFT  members, as well as members of the broader involved community of corporations and regulators around the world.