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Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

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BankWest Takeover - Online Wins for Commonwealth Bank

October 10, 2008

We live in interesting times indeed, with great uncertainty over what impact the global financial crisis will have on each market. In Australia, BankWest has now been sold by HBOS to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), resulting in further consolidation of the Australian banking sector. Following on from Heather Hopkins' post on Chase's acquisition of Washington Mutual, I've applied similar analysis to assess the online benefits for CBA.

BankWest was cited as a "well recognised brand" in CBA's briefing notes on the acquisition rationale. As Heather writes, Internet search data can be used as an effective indicator of brand strength. CBA has a strong online brand presence already; with the 4 leading variations on its brand collectively accounting for 5.62% of clicks (search resulting in a visit) to the Hitwise Banks and Financial Institutions category (4 weeks ending 4/10/08). Searches for "BankWest" also featured amongst the top 15 terms driving traffic to the industry; supporting the argument for CBA to keep the BankWest brand.

Maintaining and differentiating the BankWest brand from its parent could also allay fears about reduced competition in the Australian banking sector. The top search terms to Banks and Financial Institutions also included second-tier institutions, namely, 'bendigo bank', 'suncorp', and 'st george bank'. The diversity of brands amongst the top search terms reflects the desire of Australian consumers for a competitive banking landscape.

CBA Expanding its Online Audience Base

The acquisition of BankWest provides an excellent opportunity for CBA to expand its presence in Western Australia. The Commonwealth Bank corporate website is under-represented in visits from WA users, with a -1% swing against the online population. BankWest conversely has a 56% positive swing from WA online users. CBA has the opportunity to leverage the cost-efficiencies of the online channel to target the growing WA market, through a brand that already has strong visitation rates.

We'll be keeping a close eye on the Australian financial sector in the coming weeks, particularly as another major brand, Suncorp, comes under scrutiny for a takeover.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 08:58 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Banks and Financial Institutions