The demonetisation announcement in India on 8th November 2016 created one of the most disruptive shocks for the country’s banking sector. Banks were under tremendous pressure as millions of citizens rushed to exchange currency. This unprecedented stress overwhelmed operations, compliance, and communication. Even minor irregularities caught media and public attention, leading to reputational damage across the industry.
At the same time, fintech players were gaining traction as the future of financial services, making traditional banking models appear outdated. For universal banks in India, CASA (Current Accounts and Savings Accounts) remained critical to risk management, yet trust and confidence in traditional institutions were eroding.
A leading Indian bank, despite its strong track record, faced reputation headwinds and sought our help to answer two urgent questions, Why was it facing negative perceptions despite its strengths? & What reputation strategy was needed to regain trust and reassert leadership?
We designed a three-phase approach to develop corporate reputation strategy.
Conducted in-depth interviews with bank leadership and focus groups with employees to gain internal perspectives and culture drivers most critical to sustaining trust.
Engaged experts, customers and a cross section of key stakeholders including policy makers and regulators to explore shifts, expectations, and peer reviews to develop critical reputation drivers unique to India’s evolving financial ecosystem and the bank.
Using the insights, first, we built a bespoke Corporate Reputation Framework and Messaging Corridors, next validated them through an anonymous competitive benchmarking survey across stakeholders and third, benchmarked bank’s standing compared to its peers.
We developed a corporate reputation pathway with actionable recommendations and a messaging playbook for the banks corporate communications. The recommendations were incorporated into the bank’s business strategy.
The corporate reputation framework became part of the leadership onboarding program. With a board sponsor and C-suite ownership, the reputation strategy became central to the bank’s transformation.
Sharada is the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Astrum and leads the evidence-based consulting practice, translating complex data into WinningKnowledge that empowers clients to strengthen reputation, pre-empt reputation risks, and build competitive advantage. She has nearly two decades of expertise in market research, public policy research, crisis preparedness and social impact, she has led high-impact studies for multinational corporations, domestic enterprises, and leading political parties.
An Economics (Honours) graduate with a master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, Sharada also holds executive certifications in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics, UK, and in Transformational Leadership from XLRI Jamshedpur.
