China bank brands flex international muscle

Hong Kong - China Merchant Bank has gained the single biggest rise of all global brands valuated by Millward Brown Optimor’s fourth annual BrandZ Top 100 global brands report.

Leading the charge from a host of Chinese banking brands including China Construction Bank, HSBC and Bank of China, China Merchant Bank gained a 168% increase in brand value, outgunning the likes of BlackBerry, Amazon, Vodafone and Johnnie Walker.

The BrandZ Top 100 ranking identifies the dollar value of brands by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users from BrandZ, the world's largest brand equity study. The value of the top 100 brands has held its value at US$1.95 trillion, an increase of 1.7%.

Google has again topped the chart with a brand value of $100 billion, with Microsoft coming in at number two at $76.2 billion. Coca-Cola enters the top three for the first time at $67.6 billion.

Eight Chinese brands made it into the top 100 chart this year with China Mobile ranking the first of all Chinese brands in seventh place with a value of $57.2 billion.

Among the top 10 by brands by value in Asia, four are from China and six are from Japan.