OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2009. Last month, international financial magazine The Banker has published Top 500 Global Financial Brands list prepared by Brand Finance, the leading UK-based independent brand valuation firm, reported the press-centre of Alliance Bank.

This year, Alliance Bank, Halyk Bank and Kazkommertsbank have entered the ranking for the first time.

Alliance Bank was ranked 381st in the list; its brand value was estimated by Brand Finance analysts at US121 million with market capitalization of US601 million. Alliance Bank’s brand was rated “BBB” by Brand Finance. Halyk Bank and Kazkommertsbank took 400th and 487th places respectively in the ranking.

The Top 500 Global Financial Brands ranking is prepared by Brand Finance yearly, according to The Banker. In 2009, financial institutions from 63 countries of the world have been ranked. To assess a brand value the analysts look at customer database, staff, suppliers and business partners, in addition to financial providers and investors.

The methodology this year has been enhanced to provide a more detailed breakdown of brands in different banking activities, such as retail, commercial, wholesale and credit cards. In addition, he banks which were previously excluded due to lack of data on market capitalization have now been incorporated into the rankings through new measurement techniques applied by the Brand Finance analysts.

Brand ratings are calculated using BrandBeta® analysis specially developed by Brand Finance, which benchmarks the strength, risk and future potential of a brand relative to its competitors on a scale ranging from “AAA” to “D.” “AAA” responds to extremely strong brand rating, while “D” means failing brand rating.

Therefore, brand ratings of the three Kazakh banks refer to the average strong brand ratings. The data used to calculate the ratings comes from various sources, including Bloomberg, annual reports and Brand Finance research.

More detailed information on Top 500 Global Financial Brands is available at The Banker website at:
http://www.thebanker.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/6416/Top_500_banking_brands.html

Top 500 Global Financial Brands 2009 table is published at:
http://www.thebanker.com/cp/44/Top%20500%20Table.pdf