Michael Galea, Bank of Valletta’s head of marketing and communication, was recently invited to chair the second annual conference on “Innovative Brand Building for Banks and Financial Institutions”. The conference, organised by Marcus Evans Conferences, was held at the Marriott, Marble Arch, in London.

Besides chairing the conference, Mr Galea also delivered a case study presentation on the implementation of Bank of Valletta’s Brand Promise programme of change. The case study focused on the programme being implemented at Bank of Valletta to transform the brand from an abstract concept into something real. The presentation outlined the process that BOV has put in place to bring the brand alive for both customers and employees – capturing people’s emotions and creating loyalty.

Introducing the conference, Mr Galea highlighted that today, unlike up to a few years back, the building of a strong brand is increasingly being considered as an essential requirement to gain and sustain an organisation’s market position.

The two-day conference was addressed by various speakers who presented case studies from various organisation that included Deutsche Bank, Allianz, Raiffeisen Group, Erste Bank, Credit Suisse and Pioneer Investments, Austria. Professor Simon Knox from the Cranfield School of Management presented the expert’s view on building world-class brands in financial services.