Ranked third in the SPBIX, Heritage Bank's branding is based on consistency and continuity. In a sector where discourse is tending to become standardised, the bank is striving to align its identity, positioning and practices. Here, Sylvia Demeyrier looks back at an approach built up over time, in which accuracy is the main vector of differentiation.
Banque Heritage came third in the SPBIX index, which assesses the way in which Swiss banks build their brand identity. What exactly does this index focus on?
The SPBIX is an annual index that analyses and evaluates the way in which the nearly sixty Swiss private banks express their identity and translate it into concrete actions. It measures the consistency between positioning, raison d'être, values, culture and communication, in order to identify those banks that are capable of truly differentiating themselves.
What are the main criteria taken into account in the SPBIX?
The SPBIX is based on around thirty criteria structured around two complementary dimensions, Identity and Activation. Identity analyses the brand's foundations. The Activation dimension measures its implementation. Identity assesses the clarity of the brand's positioning, the relevance of its raison d'être and the coherence of its values. The second focuses on their concrete translation through culture, teams and communication.
How did you manage to achieve this excellent third place?
This recognition is the culmination of six months of in-depth work, in close collaboration with the Marketing & Communications team, several employees, the Executive Committee and our Chairman.
We chose to go back to basics: our entrepreneurial roots, the history of the founding family, which has a long history in the commodities sector, and our origins as a family office.
This was not just a retrospective exercise. We also wanted to clarify our trajectory, set out our objectives and explain how we intend to evolve in a rapidly changing environment.
Our raison d'être - Sharing Success - is a direct translation of this. For the bank, this means putting at the service of its customers what has made the founding families so successful. In this way, we express both our heritage and our ambition.
How would you define the concept of branding for a bank like Heritage?
It's not about aesthetics, but about alignment, between who we are, what we say and what we do. It's also about having a clear positioning. We're not trying to please everyone; nor are we trying to cover everything. In this way, we want to remain truly relevant. It's a choice. And that choice means we have to make some compromises. By trying to speak to everyone, you end up saying nothing. A strong brand, on the other hand, knows exactly who it's talking to and why. At Heritage, our primary target is entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial families who are looking for a bank that understands the value-creation rationale behind their wealth, and not just its management.
You recently worked on the bank's image. What were you trying to change as a priority?
We wanted to change our image from that of a traditional private bank to that of a more dynamic partner that thinks with its customers and acts alongside them. Our name, Heritage, is a strength. It is highly evocative, almost self-supporting. But it can also be too conservative. That's why we've redefined our approach, to make it more modern. We've moved away from the implicit "we've been around for a long time" stance to a more engaging promise: "we're here to help you move forward... and prosper, generation after generation".
Finally, we wanted to reaffirm a simple but essential conviction: private banking is above all a people business. We have therefore sought to create lasting emotional bonds - something that people don't always spontaneously associate with a bank - by showing that behind the figures and the analysis, there are above all people, empathy, closeness and sincere commitment.
How would you like your customers and prospects to perceive Heritage?
As a solid, committed bank that keeps its promises, but above all as a bank that understands the reality of entrepreneurship and knows how to support the decisions that shape wealth over the long term.
As a bank that understands you, speaks to you when you need it and acts alongside you, without standardised solutions, but with answers built for you, with a resolutely entrepreneurial approach. Think. Act. Thrive. It's not a slogan, it's the experience we offer.
How do you structure your brand message from now on?
We have three pillars. Independence, guaranteed by our family structure and open architecture. Long-term vision, inherent in our DNA as a family business. And proximity, which enables us to maintain truly differentiating relationships with our customers.
Nothing new on the surface. The difference lies in the way we actually embody them. This is reflected in our governance, in our open architecture and in the real proximity between our teams and the families we support.
In the world of financial services, what do you think are the essential elements in building a strong brand?
First of all, credibility. It's based on competence.
Then consistency, which transforms credibility into trust. In a constantly changing environment, the brand is often the most stable asset. It anchors the relationship when everything else fluctuates.
Communication plays a fundamental role here. It is not simply a matter of broadcasting messages. It expresses what the company really is and how it evolves over time. In a way, the value of a brand is also an expression of the company's energy - the energy it releases and spreads.
In more uncertain times, this communication also reveals deep-seated values such as a sense of responsibility, mastery, rigour, confidence and perseverance. A strong brand does not seek to seduce. It imposes itself through its accuracy and is built patiently, over time.
What values do you think are really decisive?
Authenticity above all. We have to remain aligned with who we are, without posturing. And that starts at management level, because a brand can only fully exist if it is embodied on a daily basis.
Then there's responsibility. In an organisation like ours, every employee is responsible for his or her own impact. Every interaction counts. And finally, high standards of thinking and execution. At the end of the day, it's all about consistency.
How would you like to see Banque Heritage's positioning evolve in the future?
This is already underway. We want to make ourselves clearer and more distinctive, without moving away from our core identity as an independent, entrepreneurial bank with a long-term vision for the creation, structuring and transfer of wealth.
In an environment where products and services are tending to converge, the difference lies less in what we offer than in how we deliver it, and how we express it. In a saturated environment, clarity becomes a form of distinction, a decisive advantage.