Recent study highlights EM entrants' well-homed efforts, but converting it on a wider basis offers a different challenge.
Rankings from Kantar published in October have shown a continued swing towards emerging markets banking brand quality, with six in the top 10 and more than half of the top 50 placed from EM and frontier.
The table, co-developed and first reported by The Banker, was topped by Brazil's Nubank and South Africa's Capitec, with Thailand's KBank (Kasikorn Bank) joining them to make three in the top five. Each is publicly listed. Names from across China, India, and the GCC figured prominently throughout the listing, which sifted through sentiment data to predict the likelihood of increased value in 2026.
State of Play: Given the study's objective, it is unsurprising that the results favor neobanks, and entrants from emerging geographies more broadly, versus established Western peers that have mostly seen their brands plateau (if not sink) on the same criteria. Even if it is an exercise in projection, achieving that platform is no small feat given the significant effort involved and, in many cases, their speed.
Still, important questions remain for those right across the list; none is bigger than how to translate their social capital (or more accurately potential for even more of it) into scale. For instance, upon its public listing at NYSE a few years ago Nubank was called "Latin America's largest bank, but also its riskiest;" many fintech-forward firms, especially from EM, face this same cautious profile from global investors, who are accustomed to selecting on banking institutions for their stability.
Therefore the next ask is actually inverse to the sector's traditional trajectory in Western markets, where brand equity has tended to follow scale, rather than the other way around.
Indeed, the challenge for EM is rooted in finding more customers - often beyond their home market - to realize that brand value. Regional entry for any bank brings operational challenges, but branding issues, too. What works to understand, attract and corner a consumer base in one country (especially a diverse one like Brazil or South Africa) may not translate elsewhere. Competition among neobanks is fierce and fast-moving. It all adds costs and risks dilution at home, too.
What's clear is the extent to which EM banks are building and developing value through brand innovation, to match their often digital-first product offerings for growing consumer bases. Stickiness is essential. How that value converts, or proves portable, in their broader business strategy could see winners become global, and turn those skeptics around.
