Fight looms, confusion inevitable as
two Texas banks now share ‘Vista’ name

“We changed our name to soar above the crowd…to set ourselves apart.”
– Security State Bank

A new website for Security State Bank & Trust says the bank changed names to “soar above the crowd” and to “set ourselves apart.” But there’s a problem. The name they picked, Vista Bank of Texas, is almost identical to another bank in the same state, Vista Bank Texas.

Key Question: Who was first?

It’s hard to say.

Vista #1: Vista Bank Texas
Service Area: 6 branches around Houston
Claim to Name: It doesn’t look like this bank had been using the Vista name for very long. They launched their current website in December 2007.

Vista #2: Vista Bank of Texas
Service Area: 8 branches around the Texas panhandle
Claim to Name: In their trademark application on file with the US Patent & Trademark Office, they say the first time they used the name was June 2008. (Click here to view the USPTO trademark entry.)

Bottom Line: This may be a case of unfortunate timing and a terrible coincidence, but these banks are in for big trouble. It doesn’t matter that they are 500 miles apart. In today’s wired world, people are going to get confused.

Prediction: Financial trademark lawsuit in 3…2…1…

And it all may boil down to a difference of just six months and the simple preposition “of.” Maybe one of them should have put “First” in their name so we’d know which was the First Vista Bank of Texas. Joking. Just joking…

A creative solution to the problem would be for the two Vista Banks in Texas to merge, or create some sort of shared branching concept. Maybe you’ve heard the old adage, “The quickest way to eliminate my enemy is to call him my friend?” Don’t hold your breath though. This isn’t very likely.

A credit union in California holds the trademark for the word “Vista” in the USPTO’s financial services category, but a merger in 2007 between Vista FCU and Partners Credit Union name may make the trademark moot (click here to view the USPTO trademark entry.) Because the merged credit unions kept the “Partners” name, it’s unlikely either of them will step-up to defend this trademark.

More on the “Vista” name:

• It appears that Security State Bank & Trust bought their new URL, www.vistabank.com, for around $2,000 from a cybersquatter. The domain had been put up for sale after another Vista Bank gave it up a few years ago.
• Ironically, Security State Bank & Trust was also a name that was shared by at least two banks — the one that just became Vista Bank of Texas and another one in Montana.
• There is another Vista Bank in South Carolina.
• Earlier this year, The Financial Brand wrote about a two-year old bank in California changing names to Sierra Vista.

Here are this week’s branding and marketing stories of interest from around the web.
Click hotlinks for the whole story.

Texas Twins: Similar Gen-Y programs raise tough questions

What’s Behind All This Growth? Credit unions add 1.6 million members

Reaping ‘Rewards’: Bancvue checking product boasts $5.5 billion in deposits

Bee Good: Credit union serves free honey-flavored ice cream to save the bees

How To: Making a powerful financial brand

Driving Sales: Auto loans are hot as car makers cut leasing programs

2nd Generation: Bank switches names back to ‘Generations’

Pledge of New Allegiance: Illinois bank to become ‘Legence’

MembersProject.com: AmEx introduces contest for charitable ideas

School of Rock: CU’s financial literacy program rocks high schoolers

It’s a Wrap: BofA draws attention to wealth management with NYT ad wrap

Vishing: Are you ready to protect people from this latest security threat?

Op Ed: LA Times bemoans loss of marble and mahogany branches

Hawaiian Cafe: Credit union puts in a sofa and a “gourmet coffee bar”

For many credit unions, expanding their charters is a common growth strategy. Often, a credit union’s first reflex after getting a community charter is to add the word “community” to its name.

The reasoning goes something like this: “Our community charter should fuel future growth. The only problem is, people don’t know they can join. We need a way to say, ‘We’re open to everyone!’”

The solution: ‘[Fill-in-the-Blank] Community Credit Union.’ The word “community” represents a “community charter,” and everyone knows a community charters are “open to the community,” right?

Wrong.

Reality check: Industry insiders often make the mistake of crediting the general public with more knowledge about credit unions than they actually have. We forget that Joe Average struggles to grasp the basic concepts of “joining” and “membership,” much less subtler credit union terminology, like “shares” or “CUDL.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the word “community.” There are plenty of successful credit unions incorporating “community” into their names. Just don’t be fooled into thinking the word “community” will help the general public realize they can join.

Over 500 credit unions have slipped the word “community” in their names – that’s one out of every 16. Yet after changing names, many are still frustrated by stagnant member growth. This is most prevalent among credit unions who retain their main sponsor’s name — for instance, turning ‘Company Employees Credit Union’ to ‘Company Community Credit Union.’ It seems logical, because this formula preserves heritage in the old name.

The big problem is that no matter how many times you say “everyone can join,” people just can’t get past the ‘Company’ name. They understandably assume that only employees of the Company can join. Research bears this out over and over.

Bottom line: You can’t just tack a word like “community” onto your name and hope it works. Supporting a community charter takes good old-fashioned marketing muscle.

Most credit unions with newly-minted community charters don’t have brands that are ready for primetime.

If you’re going to go through the process and expense of changing your credit union’s name, embrace the opportunity to truly rebrand your identity.

Even if you choose a new name with a safe, geographical reference like Oregon Community Credit Union or Utah Community Credit Union, your credit union is probably due for a fresh, overall makeover.

“It’s great to put together a nice shiny logo and tag line and say, ‘okay here it is.’ But if people don’t get caught up in the excitement, it’s not going to work.” – Teresa Freeborn, Xceed FCU President

Xerox Federal Credit Union recently announced its plans to become ‘Xceed Financial’ at a special event held for more than 200 employees at Universal Studios in California. According to The Credit Union Times, many Xerox staff were flown in from branch locations back east.

No reason was given for the name change, and no information was available at the Xerox FCU website. It doesn’t appear that the credit union will be pursuing a community charter in the near future, so it’s reasonable to assume that a request from Xerox (The Document Company) is driving the name change.

With the new name comes a new tagline, “At work for you,” part of a simultaneous rebranding effort. The new tagline reflects the credit union’s commitment to focus on Xerox and other SEGs.

The CU Times reports that the name is the result of about nine months of consultancy, research, testing and meetings with Xerox and other major SEGs.

Trademark Status:
No one has yet registered “Xceed” or “Exceed” with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office under International Class (IC) 036 Financial Services. There are a few federally registered trademarks in other ICs, mostly technology and bio-sciences.

Domain Name:
The credit union will apparently use either xceedfinancialcu.org or xceedfinancialcu.com as its URL. The CU registered domains for ‘Xceed’ earlier this year. (As of the posting of this article, there were only holding pages at both sites.)

The domain xceedfinancial.com has been registered by a mortgage company in Arizona for the last couple of years, although the website appears to be no longer active. The following screenshot was taken from Archive.org:

The URL xceed.com is owned by an established technology company.

There is an Xceed Mortgage in Toronto.

Bottom Line:

• The new coined name ‘Xceed’ is distinct.
• ‘Xceed’ has positive connotations in the financial industry.
• The name links back to the credit union’s history with Xerox through the use of the letter “X.”
• The letter “X” is a “techy” naming device (if not a tad cliché), which is why SEGs will find it comfortably familiar.
• While there are a number of other companies with the Xceed name, it doesn’t look like the credit union will face any lawsuits.

Leesport Bank will be integrating seven separate business divisions under one new name, ‘VIST Financial”:

• Leesport Bank
• Madison Bank
• Essick & Barr
• The Boothby Group
• Madison Insurance Consultants
• Madison Financial Advisors
• Philadelphia Financial Mortgage

Robert Davis, President/CEO, said this confederation of companies will now be united under a single brand, effective March 3. Each business division will be rebranded under the VIST parent brand, using such names as ‘VIST Bank,’ ‘VIST Insurance’ and ‘VIST Capital Management.’

Even thought the firm had been focused on building a unified internal brand, customers struggled to see so many separate identities as a united company.

The company also expressed concerns that the Leesport name created geographical constraints.

“There is a trend to define a company in a way that has no restrictive geographical or other associations.”
– Robert Davis, President/CEO

“Nothing could have been worse than just come in and arbitrarily change the name,” Davis said. “We’ve been very deliberate in saying, ‘Let’s come together as one company before we even dare to present or rebrand ourselves under one name.’”

The new name is an acronym spelled from the words Vision, Integrity, Solutions and Trust.

On the company’s website, the only information available about the name change was a 5-minute long video. The video was professionally written and produced specifically for staff, but was apparently deemed acceptable for public consumption.

The video explains – in great detail – the rationale behind each word in the VIST name. Four different spokespeople take turns, each explaining a different letter in the name:

• Vision - Al Weber, Leesport Chairman
• Integrity - Christy Glass, Leesport HR Manager
• Solutions - Gregg Shemanski, Business Banking Customer
• Trust - Christian Leinbach, Leesport Personal Banking Customer

Bob Davis, Leesport President & CEO, recaps the acronym again at the end. (Click here for full script.)

Reality Check: How many people really want to watch a 5-minute corporate video?

The company applied for federal trademark registration for the name ‘VIST’ with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office back in November 2007. The application was filed in International Class 036 under financial services.

There are federal trademarks for ‘VIST’ under IC 009 for medical software and IC 025 and 028 for ski equipment and apparel. These should not represent any legal threats to VIST Financial’s trademark status.

Both vistfinancial.com and vistbank.com are currently being cybersquatted, so it is unclear which URL the freshly consolidated financial institution will use.

The firm’s ticker symbol on the Nasdaq Stock Market also will change from ‘FLPB’ to ‘VIST.

Analysis: ‘VIST’ is a simple, unique name. It’s good to have a story behind it, but the principles driving the name – vision, integrity, solutions and trust – aren’t the most unique corporate values in the financial industry. Even though the video did an extremely thorough job explaining the new name’s rationale, it would have nice if there was a little more information available on the company’s website (starting with FAQs).

Visually, the name VIST could be confused with lookalike words like “VISTA.”

It makes sense to consolidate all these separate business units under one brand. Not only is it much easier and cheaper to manage one brand instead of seven, the single VIST name will almost certainly yield higher awareness and recognition.

Bottom Line: Bigger brand bang for the buck.

UnitedHealth Services, a conglomerate offering a range of services within the health care industry, is changing the name of a bank it founded back in 2004.

Exante, a bank that primarily administers health savings accounts, will officially become OptumHealth Bank on March 3, 2008.

UnitedHealth has other business units operating under the ‘Optum’ name. The company has been running a website called ‘OptumAnswers.com’ since 2002, part of what it calls the OptumHealth alliance.

UnitedHealth has federally registered trademarks on file with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for ‘Optum.’ The trademarks cover five different International Classes:

• IC 016 - Paper goods and printed matter
• IC 035 - Advertising and business services
• IC 042 - Scientific and technological services
• IC 044 - Medical services
• IC 045 - Personal and social services

Note: There are two other companies with registered trademarks for Optum – one for software/computer services, and another for plastics.

UnitedHealth has not yet filed ‘Optum’ for trademark protection under International Class 036 which covers financial services, even though Optum is an FDIC-insured financial institution.

Oddly enough, UnitedHealth does have a trademark registered in IC 036 for Exante.

To celebrate 100 years in business, HomeFederal has decided to change its name. On March 1, they will rollout a new logo and signage bearing the new moniker ‘Indiana Bank & Trust.”

In this press release, John Keach, Jr. the bank’s Chairman and CEO, said, “We feel our new name better reflects our service to the south central Indiana market and the products we offer the people who live and work here.”

Keach also believes the new name “marks a look forward in our service to our customers, our communities, and the state.”

The bank will be leaving the ‘Home Federal’ name to peers in South Dakota, Tennessee, Idaho, Nebraska and Minnesota/Iowa.

Key Question: Will Bank of Indiana, who has a federally registered trademark on file with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, challenge the new ‘Indiana Bank’ name?

Bottom Line: Not much point abandoning a generic name for another generic name.

The nation’s largest correspondent bank (see definition below) is changing its name to ‘Silverton Bank’ according to this press release.

The bank hopes that the name change will eliminate confusion in the marketplace. Out of 22 correspondent banks in the United States, 20 use “Banker’s Bank” in their names, including:

• Bankers Bank
• The Bankers Bank
• The Independent Bankers Bank
• Independent Bankers Bank
• First National Bankers Bank
• United Bankers Bank
• Community Bankers Bank

“It’s hard to differentiate
yourself when you have
essentially the same name.”
– Tom Bryan, Silverton CEO

“There are big differences between us and our competitors in terms of size and the breadth of services offered, but it’s hard to differentiate yourself when you have essentially the same name,” said Tom Bryan, President and CEO of Silverton Bank, formerly The Bankers Bank. “We just want to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, and we think this new name will help achieve that goal.”

The name change is a byproduct of the bank’s conversion to a national charter back in August 2007.

Apparently, Silverton Bank has not yet applied for trademark protection. There is only one ‘Silverton’ registered under financial services with the USPTO, and that trademark is limited to extended warranties on boats and yachts manufactured by Silverton Marine Corporation. Silverton Marine is also the owner of www.silverton.com.

There are only 40 total trademarks for ‘Silverton’ in various industries on file with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, 17 of which are dead.

Bottom Line: This is a smart move on the bank’s part. Being the largest player in any category means you have to work even harder to differentiate your brand from others. Johnny-come-latelys will always try to clone a leader’s success.

Silverton is accomplishing their objective to distinguish themselves amidst a sea of sameness by shunning me-too naming conventions: Who says a banker’s bank must have “bankers bank” in its name?

The new Silverton name has positive connotations for the financial services sector. It suggests “a ton of silver.” The name is easy to say and spell. It is reasonably short and easily recalled.

This relatively unique name would likely receive trademark protection from the USPTO within the financial services category… if they apply for it (and they should — immediately).

What is a correspondent bank?
A correspondent bank accepts deposits and performs services for the independent community banks it serves. Correspondent banks are owned, operated, and directed by shareholders who are also bank customers. (Can you say, “Credit unions for banks?”) According to The Nation’s Bankers’ Bank, there are 22 correspondent banks serving a combined total of 6,000 community banks. Silverton serves more than 1,500 of them.

The Family Bank, a $97 million-asset thrift based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota is changing its name to Voyager Bank.

In this article, the bank offered no explanation why it picked ‘Voyager’ as its new name.

The Family Bank had previously acquired Voyager Mortgage, another Eden Prairie financial services provider.

The bank is also converting to a state charter in hopes of expanding its ability to serve business customers, which seems to be the driving motivation behind the name change and other changes at the bank.

McKenzie Banking Company has announced it will adopt the name of its sister organization, ‘Foundation Bank,’ sometime in January 2008.

Apparently, McKenzie and Foundation have been owned by the Wilson family for the last 20 years. The name change appears to be nothing more than a consolidation.

In this article, Foundation Bank president Keith Priestley says, “The decision to change the bank name was made after considerable thought and consideration of the long-term planning for the bank.”

Foundation Bank in Tennessee has the URL foundationbank.org, and should not be confused with the Foundation Bank at foundationbank.com, nor the Ohio Foundation Bank at foundationbankus.com, nor the California First Foundation Bank at firstfoundationbank.com, nor Foundation Credit Union.

According to the credit union’s newsletter, “It was time for us to find a name that reflects the values of this credit union.”

The newsletter emphasized the number of ways the credit union is “focus”ed on members and their needs.

CEO Dean Wilson wrote, “Change is constant and our member elected board decided the time was right for a name changeand brought it to our membership who glowingly endorsed the change.”

The credit union has about $40 million in assets and over 5,500 members.

The newly-minted ‘Focus’ will be joining three other “Focus” credit unions, one in Florida, one in Ohio and another in California. There’s also ‘The Focus FCU’ and ‘Community Focus FCU.’

Note the logo draws attention to the initials “CU.”

PDF of the newsletter on file at here The Financial Brand: Wauwatosa CU newsletter

“Grindrod.”

It picked the name back in 2006 (reference here).

Apparently, the words “grind” and “rod” don’t mean the same thing in South Africa as they do in colloquial American.

This 23-page PDF from the U.S. District Court of Alabama should serve as a cautionary tale about what can happen if you choose a new name that’s too similar to someone else’s – especially when you’re in the same market.

It all started on March 26, 2005 when BF Goodrich Employees Federal Credit Union chose to become ‘The Credit Union of Alabama Federal Credit Union‘ (sic, there are indeed two references to “credit union” in the name). This irked ‘Alabama Credit Union,’ who immediately fired off a cease-and-desist.

Alabama Credit Union then appealed to NCUA, asking them to rescind the name change. The NCUA declined to get involved.

The Alabama Credit Union Administration protested The Credit Union of Alabama’s choice in name, saying it would “cause confusion and was not in the best interest” of either credit union.

One party sued another and vice versa. Alabama Credit Union accused The Credit Union of Alabama of:

• deceptive trade practices
• unfair competition
• common law trademark infringement

The Credit Union of Alabama counter-sued for:

• cybersquatting
• tortious interference
• mail fraud
• RICO violations
• fraudulent suppression
• unfair competition
• conspiracy

Alabama Credit Union was awarded a summary judgment on all points related to The Credit Union of Alabama’s countersuit.

At least one member of The Credit Union of Alabama isn’t too happy about all this legal wrangling. In a letter to The Tuscaloosa News, Jerry Logan said, “The money spent on this lawsuit could have been returned to the member-owners in more dividends and also to the employees in a well-deserved raise. Instead it has gone to an attorney.”

Key Question: How will the courts view the fact that there are 17 credit unions with the word “Alabama” in their name, including ‘Alabama Central Credit Union‘ and nine others whose names start with “Alabama?”

Reality Check: The NCUA may approve a name change, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get sued for trademark infringement. The NCUA only performs cursory examinations of trade names. It seldom – if ever – gets involved in trade name battles, even when they’ve okay’d a new name under dispute. The US Patent & Trademark Office oversees all federal trademarks, not the NCUA.

Bottom Line: Which option do you think would cost more? Hiring an experienced naming firm? Or settling these lawsuits…and potentially having to rename again?

According to the credit union’s press release, the name change is the first since the credit union was founded in 1968.

On its website, the credit union said, “We changed our name to reflect who we are and who we serve.”

The credit union was founded by five Frick employees to service employees and their families. In July 2003, the credit union was granted a community charter. Because the credit union did not change its name, however, many did not know they could use its services, according to the release.

Canara Bank in India rebrands with a new logo. I don’t speak Hindi, but this looks good:

According to one blogger musing about banks in India renaming and rebranding:

“Rebranding helps an organization do well in its business if well executed. It is also important to continue the spirit after the exercise. Rebranding involves heavy investment in the form of advertising & marketing. It surely helps the organization come back to lime light.”

He criticizes another Indian bank, Axis Bank (formerly UTI Bank) for changing its name and image, but doing nothing further after the initial rollout to support its rebranding effort. Perhaps that’s because “everything is the same:”

The blogger’s advice: “If the marketing team acts with the same intensity after [rebranding], it surely can boost its organization’s growth very easily.”

Key Takeaway: Branding is never finished, and launching a new brand is only the beginning. It takes cash and commitment over the long term.

When rebranding and renaming a financial institution, there are strategic decisions that need to be made:

• How much of the existing brand’s equity should be preserved?
• How much should the rebranding effort suggest things will be changing?
• What changes are you asking staff to make?
• What adjustments will marketing make?
• How will existing customers react?
• How will prospective targets respond?

Bottom Line: A rebranding effort can represent a fresh way of doing things from top to bottom. It can signify the start of an organizational transformation. Or “everything can stay the same except the name.” Whatever decision you make, just be sure it’s for strategic reasons that benefit the longterm bottom line, not just the safe, easy or obvious choice.

PCA Federal Credit Union’s primary sponsor closed their facilities and “the credit union no longer had a viable occupational bond,” so it becomes ‘Greater Wayne Community FCU.’

According to the credit union’s website:

“Although PCA Federal Credit Union had other diversified groups in its field of membership it was not sufficient to sustain credit union growth for the future. After careful consideration the credit union board of directors decided that community charter serving Wayne County Ohio would be the most logical and prudent field of membership to pursue.”

According to The Credit Union Times, Belvoir FCU President and CEO Patricia Kimmel, says the new name reflects the changing community while still maintaining ties to its rich heritage.

At its website, the credit union says the makeup of their potential membership has and will continue to change, noting that “Fort Belvoir is now a more civilian installation.”

The U.S. Defense Department is planning to move 20,000 people to Fort Belvoir, so the credit union decided the time was right to redefine itself as “all-inclusive for our members and potential members and to find a new name.”

“Belvoir” is French for “beautiful to see.”

Bottom Line: Belvoir Credit Union said it best, “The more things change, the more they stay the same!”

The name change is a result of the merger of all 10 banking subsidiaries of Boone’s parent company into one bank. The parent recently changed its name from First Corbin Bancorp to Forcht Bancorp, reflecting the name of its founder and CEO, Terry Forcht.

Terry Forcht started his first bank in Corbin, Kentucky in 1985.

Forcht Bancorp has $1.5 billion in assets with 34 banking centers in 11 Kentucky counties.

Source: Cincinnati Business Courier

From the company’s news section:

“The group wanted their new name to reflect the fact that they are an Iowa company with Midwestern values. Two Rivers was chosen because Iowa is the land between two rivers, the Mississippi and Missouri.”

“‘We want our clients to be able to take care of all their financial needs through one company with a staff they know and trust,’” said Jim Olson, President of Two Rivers Financial Group. ‘”Two Rivers allows us to do just that.”‘”

Reality Check: How many states are flanked by rivers on their east and west borders?

From a blog providing additional coverage on the name change:

Renaming is a major undertaking, said Kent Gaudian, president of the Burlington bank. “A lot of time and effort goes into this. Obviously there has been some expense,” he said, declining to say how much.

When the parent company of AFG Industries decided to roll-up its subsidiary under the holding company moniker, AGC (Asashi Glass Company), its credit union decided to follow suit.

In this PDF newsletter, AGC Credit Union said:

AFG Industries changed their name recently. Since we are the financial institution for the employees and their families of this company, your Board of Directors decided to do the same. Effective September 1, 2007 AFG Employees Credit Union became AGC Credit Union.

The credit union says nothing else is changing.

With only $15 million in assets and one office location, the transition should be fairly smooth and inexpensive.

Key Questions: What happens if the sponsor changes names again? Or gets acquired? Merged? Goes bankrupt? Has an Enron-style implosion?

With $87 million in assets and 13,000 members, Pittsburgh Teachers Credit Union will officially become ‘Riverset,’ effective January 2, 2008.

According to this article, President and CEO Christine Chojnicki said the credit union’s name was being amended to Riverset in an effort to broaden the organization’s appeal to groups other than teachers. Chojnicki said the name change will make the credit union “more inclusive” of all its members, as well as members or employees of some 60 companies and organizations representing health care, retail, hotel and public sector employees.

She said the credit union isn’t moving toward a community charter or away from its core members, even thought it will be open to anyone who lives on Pittsburgh’s South Side, where the credit union is based.

Chojnicki is quoted as saying, “Our members have been very receptive to the change.”

Michael Wishnow, senior vice president of communications for the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, said there’s a trend among credit unions to move toward community charters and away from select employee groups, or SEGs.

“When you look at how credit unions grew up, it was usually around a single, large employer,” Wishnow said. “But there are fewer and fewer large employers.”

(more…)

Changing names in a merger is easy. You can either mush everyone’s names together like AOL Time Warner:

• Hall County + Buckhead Community = Hall County Buckhead Community

Or you can strike a compromise and shave a word off each name:

• Hall County Buckhead Community - County Buckhead = Hall Community

Simple mathematics really.

Read the full article here.

In an article published by the Parma Chamber of Commerce, the credit union said the name change was “a result of their expansion throughout the years, and that it would “better represent the 18 parishes that they currently serve.”

St. Charles Borromeo Federal Credit Union was originally established in 1942 to serve the parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo Parish.

Indiana state law requires members approve credit union name changes by a 75 percent margin, but a vote was probably not required when Professional Federal Credit Union shortened its name to ‘Pro Fed.’

From the bank’s website:

“Prosperan is a form of the word ‘prosper.’ It means to be successful or fortunate, especially in financial respects, to thrive and flourish. In Spanish it means, ‘all of us prosper.’ It communicates prosperity, growth and security and has an open meaning that allows it to be equally effective, engaging and communicative throughout the United States.”

Related article here.

This name resembles other players in the financial industry, Prospera Credit Union in Canada, Prospera Credit Union in Wisconsin, and Prosper.com, the peer-to-peer lending site.

After inviting members to submit names, Canora Credit Union in Canada will become ‘Crossroads.’ According to an announcement from the credit union:

“‘Crossroads’ has a meaning that is both physical and philosophical. It represents those moments when one comes to a point where a path must be chosen that will have both large and small affects on one’s life.”

The credit union said the name change was necessary because it needed to “rebrand itself.” It went on to explain that “a new name will help the credit union continue to grow and prosper for years to come.

In its entry form for member suggestions, the credit union gave these instructions:

“Please keep in mind that the name will be the credit union’s primary brand name for years to come. It will be used to represent our services and professionalism to our members across Canada, and to attract new members in our communities and abroad, so the name should not be town specific. It must also be flexible enough to be used with additional services we may provide in upcoming years. We are a growing, developing organization, and our new name must be able to help take us into the future.”

A blog post from Market Insights on the Canora name change urges caution, saying that name changes are not the answer to everything, and that a financial institution needs to embrace the opportunity to revisit its brand as part of any renaming process.

Here’s the credit union’s story behind the name:

“The ‘Pacific Spruce’ name was chosen as part of the history of Toledo, which was one of the largest spruce producers in the world. The U.S. Army’s spruce production division built the Toledo mill and the railroad.”

Reasons for the name change, as cited in this article:

• We need to grow.
• We need to grow (said twice).
• Open up the membership.
• Add younger members.

They didn’t mention “to shorten our name,” but it probably goes without saying.

1st Trust is spending more than $1 million on all aspects of the name change, including creative and legal costs as well as new signage, stationery and marketing to introduce the name to the public

This announcement comes almost a month in advance of a vote by the bank’s 800 shareholders, presuming a favorable outcome.

The bank is so confident that shareholders will approve the name that they have already produced a new logo, a “Great Together” tag line, color scheme, bank stationery, billboards, newspapers and other advertising. The bank plans to install building signage within two weeks of the shareholder vote

1st Trust chairman Kirk Bailey said the bank positioning the bank to”break out of the pack.” In the bank’s market, there were at least 16 financial institutions with “First” or “Trust” in the name.

For more than a year, 1st Trust worked with an advertising and marketing firm to come up with a name that the bank liked and, more importantly, was available.

1st Trust president and CEO Bill Menkel said hundreds of names were considered. Eventually three or four were picked and put on everything from mugs to business cards and in a variety of styles before ‘Magna Bank‘ came out on top.

Menkel wanted something short that denoted strength and, preferably, that started with an ‘M.’

“‘M’ is a good letter for this market,” he says, because of inferences to Memphis and Mississippi, a possible future market, that creates marketing possibilities. “We can do some neat things with the logo.”

The bank’s press release says that the name “will be announced officially to the bank’s 150 employees next week,” although it’s likely that they will already know after reading the press release.

Read the full story here.