Euromoney was surprised this month when the press department at the best borrower in the world, Germany’s Finanzagentur, started suggesting a change of name in our article about its success (see Best borrowers 2011: A triumph for transparency, Euromoney June 2011).
The suggestion was that we refer to the finance agency as "the Issuer Bund". A strange request as we all know that the clever people at the Finanzagentur, led by Carl Heinz Daube, do a lot more than just run the Bund calendar.
It also made us think of commissioning a cartoon of Daube, dressed as Agent 007, saying "The name’s Bund, Issuer Bund," but we digress.
What if other financial institutions adopted a similar strategy of renaming themselves according to their single most defining characteristic?
The Germans, of course, have a head start on this. Deutsche Bank is, of course, German Bank. Except, of course, these days the vast majority of its revenues come from outside the country whose name it bears.
The UK would be a good place to start the process. Forget Barclays, and welcome Bob Diamond’s Bonus Bank. Exit RBS, welcome 81% Owned By UK Taxpayer Bank.