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1991

The first full cross-border merger in financial services in Europe took place in 1990 between AMEV, the 3rd largest Dutch insurance and banking group and Groupe AG, Belgium's largest insurance and banking group.

In June 1991, the Fortis brand was launched with the message "We have a new identity and new objectives. We are not simply a multinationional conglomerate. We are an entirely new idea..." The naming strategy (a borrowed Latin word, bought for $4 million from a U.S. company) eloquently expresses this 'new vision' branding. (And the simple wordmark, in which two 'f' letterforms provide distinctiveness, contains an internally-directed message of cultural collaboration... between a Belgian franc and a Dutch florin.) 

In the U.S., where an acquired business had to be renamed as part of the deal, Fortis became the marketing brand but in Europe, the Fortis logo would discretely endorse existing brands until it was felt to have gained sufficient respect to replace them.

Fortis was launched (from HQ locations in both the Netherlands and Belgium) with communications directed at financial and employee audiences: press ads in four languages, a corporate video and brochure, main office signs and stationery, and exhibition units.

Wolff Olins 

Submitted by: Tony Spaeth, 19/05/2007
Status: Estimated by Tony Spaeth
Category: General Financial
Country (HQ): Belgium and the Netherlands