In 2015, Apple’s iPhone will be eight years old, the iPod 14 years old. The iCult will be more prominent and iPilgrims more numerous. Can banks, with many more years behind them, ever claim such a following?
In 1397, Giovanni di Bicci founded the Medici bank in Florence and opened a branch in Rome. More branches followed and the bank developed additional lines of business. Countless prominent local, national and global brands for financial services have emerged since then but few consumers have enjoyed doing business with any of them. What has Apple created in several years that banks have failed to build in several centuries? Do banks have the desire, enthusiasm and ability to address this weakness in years to come or will their retail brands gradually disappear behind a variety of internet shoppers’ comparison engines?
