It's not yet clear exactly how the JPMorgan Casenove joint venture will be branded, but we hear that the two organizations are not planning to adopt an animal to spearhead their cause. They could be making a strategic error. Barclays Capital markets its Barx trading platform with a variety of dog mascots, from terriers to Jack Russells. And it has long been trendy to show that you are hawkish, bullish or bearish with the creature you use to front your operation. After all, Merrill Lynch is famed for its bull, Caja Madrid has its bear and there are scores of organizations from Bank Boston to Baring Asset Management that sport birds of prey in logos.
But Euromoney recommends that any bank thinking of developing animal-based branding get more inventive. Gartmore has set a high standard with what looks like a puma which the firm says is in fact a generic beast ? a hunter ?ready to pounce on the next opportunity?. And let's not forget the ING lion. Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, has a small but cunning species of deer ? a mouse deer ? in its logo.