The Amalgamated Banks of South Africa was founded in 1991 through the merger of United Bank, the Allied Bank, the Volkskas Bank Group and certain interests of the Sage Group. Absa acquired the entire shareholding of the Bankorp Group which included Trustbank, Senbank and Bankfin the following year. Each brand continued to operate under its own name until they were combined into one single brand in April 1998, adopting a new corporate identity and changing its name to Absa Group Limited.
Client
Amalgamated Banks of South Africa
Year
1998
Deliverables
- Brand Identity
- Visual Language
- Environmental Graphics
- Signage
- Photographic Direction
- Brand Strategy
At home.
The symbol is an abstract @, subtly signifying the banks move into a more electronically focussed solution for its customers. The dot at the centre of the logo represents the customer, supported by a clockwise movement ending in an upward trajectory with forward motion. The arrangement of the individual brand elements are aligned to the vertical axis of the B creating a dynamically balanced brandmark.
A more centred arrangement would have made the overall effect too static. No longer an acronym, but a pronoun, Absa needed to make its presence in the financial services industry felt and therefore adopted red as its primary brand colour. This colour was in turn supported and enhanced by the addition of a secondary colour palette, primarily represented in the bold treatment of the brands’ image library.