Branding for financial services is one of the few areas you can fully control in this industry, but it’s often the most underdeveloped part of a company’s growth strategy.
Done well, it can speed up trust, shorten sales cycles, and turn clients into unofficial salespeople for your brand.
Yet for many small- to mid-sized financial services companies, successful branding feels like a moving target that’s difficult to nail down. The most common struggles we see are:
- Blending into the crowd – Struggling to stand out when competitors offer similar products and services.
- Inconsistent presentation – Messaging, visuals, and user experience that vary across platforms and teams.
- Outdated brand identity – Design and tone that no longer reflect the company’s current value or expertise.
These challenges can quietly erode trust and growth potential – a big problem in a sector where financial products are already complex and regulations restrict what you can say, show, or promise.
In this guide, we’ll explore how financial services firms create strong, consistent brands — and share 5 real-world examples you can learn from. You’ll also get practical tips and tools to apply these strategies to your own business, no matter your budget.
In financial services, trust isn’t automatic. Your brand is how you earn it.
We’ll discuss:
- What is branding for financial services?
- Why branding and design for financial services is harder (but more important)
- 5 real-world examples of excellent branding for financial services
- How to get started (or rebrand)
Need to get more customers for your financial services brand? Book a no-cost consultation with the Mint Position team, and we’ll show you the way to higher visibility and conversions.
What is branding for financial services?
Branding in financial services is the way your company shows up in the world, including the language you use, the promises you make, and the look and feel of every interaction.
The best examples blend a range of key factors that work together to build the trust that leads to a buying decision. These include:
- Brand identity, or personality, of your business. This is shaped by your values, mission, and the promise you make to clients.
- Messaging that is clear, consistent, and tailored to your target audience, whether you’re producing fintech ads, a LinkedIn post, or client onboarding materials.
- Visual elements that include the lived customer experience. Fonts, typography, and a well-chosen color scheme should make documents easy to read, while app interfaces or reports feel seamless and intuitive.
- A clear tone of voice. In financial services, this often means striking a balance between professionalism and approachability.
- Consistent brand guidelines. A central reference for how your brand should be represented across all touchpoints.
This matters more than ever. 81% of people say brand trust shapes their buying decisions, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. For financial services firms, it’s something you design, reinforce, and protect every day.
How Brand Trust Shapes Buying Decisions
Source: Edelman
Why branding and design for finance is harder (but more important)
If you run a fashion brand or a coffee shop, your customers can instantly see, touch, or taste your product.
In finance, it doesn’t work that way. No one can physically “try” a mortgage, savings account, or payment before committing their hard-earned cash; plus, most people are overly cautious when it comes to trying new financial products. That means your brand has to do something much harder: create trust and overcome skepticism.
And that’s where the challenge lies.
“In financial services, trust is invisible – but it’s non-negotiable,” says Marcia Klingensmith, CEO of FinTech Consulting and globally known as the Payments Maven™. “Unlike consumer products, customers can’t ‘test-drive’ a $10,000 payment. Your brand has to deliver confidence, safety, and reliability in an instant — all while technology and customer expectations evolve at lightning speed.”
That’s the heart of the challenge: finance brands have to feel stable and human at the same time. Too corporate, and you come off as cold or inaccessible. Too casual, and customers question whether their money is safe.
Every element — from your tone of voice, to the colors on your app, to the way you explain a complex product – has to balance professionalism with openness.
It’s a high bar, but it’s also why strong branding in finance pays off more than almost anywhere else. A brand that nails trust and clarity wins loyalty for years.
Here’s how to navigate these challenges (and turn them into strengths).
1. Overcoming dry, technical language
Great financial brands simplify complex products without dumbing them down. Clear, plain-English messaging, well-chosen visuals, and a consistent tone of voice turn jargon-heavy concepts into something customers can easily grasp.
2. Meeting strict regulations
Compliance comes first, but it doesn’t have to be boring.
Thoughtful brand guidelines ensure every touchpoint (websites, marketing materials, emails) meets regulatory requirements while still reflecting core values and visual identity.
3. Explaining complex financial products clearly
Financial products today often feel like they’re written only for tech experts, not (always) their target customers.
The best brands flip this on its head, using simple visuals, step-by-step explanations, and even short videos to make tough ideas click.
Some do this so well that they become thought leaders in their field by making financial education part of their brand, not just a marketing afterthought.
Instead of burying people in jargon, they focus on what the product does and why it matters. This builds confidence in the product because it educates the buyer. When customers feel they actually understand how something works, they’re far more likely to trust it, use it, and recommend it.
4. Winning the trust of a cautious audience
Trust is currency. Once you show that you are a reliable option, you can start to build the emotional connection that turns cautious prospects into loyal customers.
Brands that get this balance right earn loyalty, increase referrals, and create real differentiation, even in a risk-averse, highly regulated market.
The next section looks at five key examples of companies that are achieving this.
5 examples of excellent branding for financial services in 2025
1. Plum (AI Savings App) – Strong brand consistency across all touchpoints
Plum is a great example of financial services branding that feels consistent wherever customers encounter it.
Tried-and-tested tactics that they use include:
- A playful, friendly tone that makes money feel less intimidating, often communicated via a friendly mascot.
- Purple-first visuals and clean, minimal design.
- The same look and feel across apps, emails, and socials.
- A clear core message of empowerment and making money work harder.
- Jargon-free, bite-sized financial tips that feel educational but light.
We see Plum apply these methods over several different networks. On LinkedIn, Plum speaks directly to a professional audience, sharing work-related benefits and practical money tips that fit neatly into a busy lifestyle.
They often get their audience to visualize the benefits of saving, such as an exotic holiday or a new car. This makes money management feel personal and relatable, a cornerstone of Plum’s branding approach.
On YouTube, it shifts tone slightly with easy-to-follow guides that break down saving and investing in a way that feels clear, watchable, and even fun. Several of their videos have notched up millions of views as a result.
Plum’s Engaging YouTube Series
Across channels, the message is the same: anyone can take control of their financial well-being with the right tools.
It might be the home screen of the app, a fintech digital marketing campaign, or a quick explainer video, but the same character and illustrations appear.
This consistency matters. Plum makes the experience of engaging with finance less daunting and more human. Keeping its brand identity strong across every touchpoint is the driving force behind this.
The result is a brand that not only stands out with an unmistakable online presence but also makes customers feel seen, supported, and ready to grow their money.
2. PensionBee (UK Pensions) – Brand transparency and simplicity for a cautious audience
PensionBee proves that even pensions can feel simple and human when the branding is done right.
Their whole identity revolves around transparency, starting with a bright yellow palette (as opposed to darker, serious colors) and plain-English messaging that strips away the usual industry jargon.
It feels friendly, not formal, which is exactly what their target audience wants when they’re trusting someone with their life savings.
PensionBee’s trust-building starts the moment you land on their site. You don’t just see product features — you see real numbers: their customer base, Trustpilot score, and FSCS certification.
Add to that testimonials from people who’ve actually used the service, and the message is clear: “We’ve got this covered, and you can relax.”
Note how they hit several key pain points (disjointed finances, difficulty building up savings, difficult-to-use financial products) in one nicely-worded, unique value proposition.
PensionBee’s Clear and Simple Homepage
The clean, uncluttered design reinforces the same idea – pensions don’t need to be messy or stressful.
This approach carries across every touchpoint. On social media, PensionBee shares videos of retirees enjoying the kind of life most of us dream of, alongside short, practical guides answering questions like “Should I consolidate my pensions?” There’s heavy technical talk, just accessible advice.
It all adds up to a brand experience that feels reassuring and straightforward. PensionBee turns around the negativity often related to pensions and makes people feel genuinely confident about them.
3. Mondu – Explaining complex concepts clearly with video
As humans, we trust what we can see, so brands that use visual branding tools have a powerful string to their bow.
Many financial brands rely on technical language or abstract charts, but this is a mistake, according to Marcia Klingensmith.
“The strongest financial brands turn complexity into clarity,” she says. “With instant payments, branding has to balance innovation with reassurance – delivering speed without compromising safety. We see this globally, from UPI in India driving financial inclusion to Western institutions building trusted instant payment experiences. When brands demystify modernization, trust accelerates and adoption follows.”
Mondu is a B2B BNPL provider that expertly carries out this approach. They create friendly and informative videos that simply break down their innovative products – from instant payments to B2B buy-now-pay-later models – into clear, digestible segments.
They use a combination of visuals and concise narration to make sure viewers understand the message without feeling overwhelmed.
An Example of Mondu’s Informative Video Approach
This approach goes beyond “friendly” branding; it’s strategic. Customers feel informed, not intimidated, as they can understand exactly how Mondu’s solutions work and why they matter.
A few lessons from Mondu’s approach:
- Use video to explain processes step by step, combining visual storytelling with simple language.
- Placing it near the top of their product page and relevant blog posts for more engagement.
- Use animated visuals and a colorful font and background to keep the watcher’s attention.
- Focus on clarity over jargon, so that every concept is accessible to anyone, regardless of financial expertise.
They back this content up with short and sweet testimonials (with images) to offer social proof that their product works.
Mondu proves that when FS companies prioritize understanding over complexity, they create stronger connections, reduce friction, and make their services easier for customers to adopt.
They pair these videos with quick, punchy testimonials, often with friendly images. Again, these show real people actually using the product and getting results.
One of Mondu’s Punchy Testimonials
The outcome is a brand that feels confident, transparent, and genuinely approachable. Mondu removes the intimidation factor that so often comes with financial services by using video to walk people through tricky processes,
In a world where financial brands can feel cold or complicated, Mondu proves that clarity and connection are one of the first things marketers should target.
4. Lula – Getting the tone of voice right for the target audience (and search engines)
Lula is an SME-focused funding platform that really nails the challenge of financial services industry branding by getting its tone of voice exactly right for SME owners.
For many startups, exploring financing is an uncharted territory full of technical terms, complex products, and intimidating paperwork. Lula cuts through that noise with approachable, plain-spoken messaging that feels designed for busy entrepreneurs who don’t have time for jargon.
It all starts with their website’s homepage, which makes the important points crystal clear, namely:
- Sizeable funding available
- Simple, paperless application
- Fast receipt of funds
- Over a decade of experience working with small businesses
Lula’s Homepage
Lula backs this up with a library of content that stays true to this theme of clarity, replacing dense financial jargon with easy-to-understand practical blogs and financial guides that break down complicated concepts into simple advice.
One of Lula’s Easy-to-Read Blogs
This type of content is also powerful for ranking highly in both traditional and AI search results. Search algorithms value such clearly written, user-focused content highly and reward it with stronger visibility across competitive queries.
This explains why Mint Position recently helped Lula to generate over 1,000 new B2B leads per month via 25 top-ranking funding pages on Google and Perplexity.
Mint Position’s Lula Case Study
Proof that clear, consistent brand messaging doesn’t just build trust with SME owners — it also drives measurable growth.
5. Nationwide – Building a strong visual identity
In financial services, design speaks before words do. The way a brand looks tells customers whether it feels modern, reliable, and worth their trust.
Nationwide’s recent rebrand shows how powerful that can be. They refreshed their logo and simplified their layouts, from their app and cards to branch signage and letters.
What makes Nationwide’s new brand design effective is that the changes don’t feel surface-level. The refreshed look is steady and reassuring — exactly the tone people want when trusting a provider with their money. At the same time, Nationwide uses the rebrand to underline a deeper point: looks matter, but what truly sets them apart is how they handle members’ money.
By investing in a strong visual branding identity, Nationwide signals stability and trustworthiness in every interaction — whether on a phone screen, a bank card, or across the counter in a branch.
Turn your financial branding strategy into a growth engine with Mint Position
Fintech leaders face a tough challenge: how to stand out in a crowded, fast-moving market. The good news? With the right approach, your company can turn its branding into a growth engine.
Brand consistency builds trust
Branding is more than a logo – it’s how every touchpoint feels, from your website to your emails to customer support.
Every successful finance brand, from financial institutions to plucky challenger banks, locks in its brand values from Day 1, with clear guidelines, templates, and processes for its teams to follow. Every message reinforces the same story, whether it’s a customer-facing ad or a support email.
The result: stronger brand awareness and a more confident market position.
Clarity for a cautious audience
Finance is complicated, but your brand voice shouldn’t be.
Customers are cautious and need reassurance instead of jargon. Brands that can translate complex financial products into plain-English messaging will have a better chance of persuading people to buy from them.
This approach doesn’t just make products easier to understand; it builds the trust that keeps customers around.
Content that makes sense (and sticks)
When products are complex, fintech content marketing becomes your superpower.
Blogs, infographics, and webinars done right position you as a thought leader, and financial services branding agencies like Mint Position excel at this. Our team has in-depth knowledge of how to turn technical detail into high-quality content that educates, engages, and inspires confidence.
Tone of voice that resonates
Your tone of voice is your brand’s personality. Get it wrong and you risk sounding cold or, worse, untrustworthy. The sweet spot in financial services is professional but approachable – authoritative without being intimidating.
Track what matters
Finally, if you want to optimize, you have to measure. Metrics tell you what’s working and where to adjust, so you’re not guessing.
This data-driven loop helps financial services brands sharpen their marketing strategy, prove ROI, and keep improving.
Automation is also playing a bigger role in this, so tracking and reporting can happen in real time and free up your team to focus on strategy instead of spreadsheets.
Financial institutions can do more than stand out; they can lead. And with financial branding specialists like Mint Position as your partner, you’ll have a team that knows how to bring it all together.
Ready to see how a specialist financial branding agency can help you get more customers? Get in touch with us and we’ll show you how to grow your business in a crowded market.
