Recent study highlights EM entrants' well-homed efforts, but converting it on a wider basis offers a different challenge.
Rankings from Kantar published in October have shown a continued swing towards emerging markets banking brand quality, with six in the top 10 and more than half of the top 50 placed from EM and frontier.
The table, co-developed and first reported by The Banker, was topped by Brazil's Nubank and South Africa's Capitec, with Thailand's KBank (Kasikorn Bank) joining them to make three in the top five. Each is publicly listed. Names from across China, India, and the GCC figured prominently throughout the listing, which sifted through sentiment data to predict the likelihood of increased value in 2026.
State of Play: Given Kantar's objective, it is unsurprising that the results favor neobanks, and entrants from emerging geographies more broadly, versus established Western peers that have mostly seen their brands plateau (if not sink) on the same criteria. Even if it is an exercise in projection, achieving that platform is no small feat given the significant effort involved and, in many cases, their speed.
Still, important questions remain for those right across the list - and none bigger than how to translate their social capital (or more accurately potential for even more of it) into scale. For instance, upon its public listing at NYSE a few years ago Nubank was called "Latin America's largest bank, but also its riskiest;" many fintech-forward firms, especially from EM, face this same cautious profile from global investors, who are accustomed to selecting on banking institutions for their stability.
In this sense the next ask is quite converse to the sector's traditional trajectory in Western markets, where brand equity has tended to follow scale, rather than the other way around.
Indeed the very different challenge for EM is finding more customers - often beyond their home market - to realize brand value. Regional entry for any bank often brings operational challenges, but brand ones too. What works to understand, attract and corner a consumer base in one country (especially a diverse one like Brazil or South Africa) may not translate elsewhere. Competition is fierce and fast-moving. It all always adds costs and risks dilution at home.
OQ View: What's clear, and exciting, is the extent to which EM banks are building and developing value through brand innovation to match their often digital-first product offerings for growing consumer bases. Stickiness is essential.
How that value converts, or proves portable, in their broader business strategy could see winners become global, and turn some fintech skeptics around.
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