Federal Bank’s brand refresh is part of its JFM strategy: MVS Murthy

Ninety-four years is a long time for a bank to hold its nerve. So when Federal Bank unveiled a refreshed identity, the move came at a moment when the bank felt something else was changing beneath the surface.

Inside the organisation, new businesses were taking shape, the leadership bench was evolving, and the scale of ambition was quietly expanding. Outside, India’s economic narrative had shifted gears.

For MVS Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer, Federal Bank, the timing of the refresh is inseparable from the country’s economic trajectory. As India accelerates towards the $7 trillion economy milestone by 2030 and a $40 trillion vision by 2047, Murthy believes banks must dress for the future they want to participate in.

“This was not about relevance as much as it was about pivoting on growth,” said Murthy. “With the kind of optimism coming from India’s economic story, and new businesses getting set up, we wanted to be ready, to be the best-dressed person in the room for the important things happening in the country.”

While branding is also treated as a response to perception gaps, Murthy shared that Federal Bank’s refresh is rooted in business transformation. Consumer insights, however, played a validating role rather than a corrective one.

Add to this a young leadership team, a new CEO, expanding business verticals, and a rapidly evolving tech backbone, and the case for a refreshed identity became less about disruption and more about alignment.

For most legacy institutions, the hardest part of rebranding is managing the fear of alienating trust. But Murthy shared that branch expansion was underway, new businesses were being incubated, and the brand refresh was simply another step.

“It was just about deciding when to switch on which light,” he added.

What the new identity refuses to be

If the refresh isn’t about shedding the past, what exactly is Federal Bank leaving behind?

Murthy shared that the new identity is defined by what it consciously refuses to become: unauthentic, uncaring, or insular.

Anchored in the Fortuna Wave, the visual identity stands for authenticity, prosperity, and togetherness, values that Murthy believes will matter more than ever in a trust-driven category like BFSI.

“We don’t want to be lone rangers doing our own thing. Togetherness is central to how we see ourselves going forward,” he said.

Timing the rollout

January-February-March (JFM) is the most competitive quarter for BFSI marketing. Launching a new identity during JFM means the spotlight arrives early. Media reports show that BFSI advertising tends to peak in the first quarter of the year, with media buys, campaigns, and product pushes clustered around the tax-saving window when consumers are actively selecting financial products. This front-loaded visibility compresses the time between launch and assessment, meaning banks that debut new messaging in JFM face earlier evaluation by both consumers and competitors.

Murthy described this JFM strategy as “more marketing for marketing”, a deliberate push to increase business momentum.

“This (rebranding) is also part of the JFM strategy to increase the visibility so that it increases the business.”

Internal analysis, he noted, consistently shows a correlation between campaigns and business upticks, adjusted for seasonality.

However, he added that visibility is only the first step. Although the immediate phase will see heightened exposure through press conferences, advertising, and launch activities, he believes the real test will unfold slowly.

“The brand will be carried by our colleagues,” he said. “When it starts showing up in branches, in localised events, in micro-marketing, that’s when it truly begins to live.”

He likened the rollout to the monsoon, starting in one region before gradually spreading across the country.

“Brand definition doesn’t happen overnight. It travels.”

Road ahead

As the BFSI industry heads into 2026, Murthy believes it needs to shed a few long-held assumptions. 

First, he cautioned against an over-romanticisation of digital.

“We should not overemphasise the power of digital,” he said. “At the core, we are human. Digital is to the fore, but the human touch must remain.”

Second, he underscored the discipline of measurement, positioning marketers as the frontline leaders of the organisation.

“The marketeer is the lead dog,” Murthy noted. “If you’re not tracking numbers in such a competitive space, everyone behind you gets misled. Tracking metrics is non-negotiable.”

Looking ahead, Murthy sees ease of experience as the dominant expectation, customers want transactions to be quick, intuitive, and frictionless. But efficiency alone won’t suffice.

“This generation weighs trust very heavily,” he said. “It’s not just about how good a brand looks, but how it makes you feel.”

Purpose, authenticity, and emotional reassurance will increasingly separate brands that merely perform from those that endure.

“People are asking, can I trust this brand, or is it just wearing a mask?,” he added.

For Federal Bank, the refreshed identity marks a moment of consolidation rather than reinvention. After 94 years, the exercise is less about signalling change for its own sake and more about ensuring that the bank’s outward expression keeps pace with shifts already underway inside the organisation.

Whether the new identity succeeds will depend less on launch visibility and more on how consistently it shows up across touch points.

In a BFSI landscape where ease of experience and trust increasingly drive choice, the refresh sets a direction. How convincingly it is carried forward, by people, processes, and performance, will ultimately determine what the new identity comes to stand for.