BNG is the specialist in financing public facilities. The bank contributes to quality of life in the Netherlands by playing an active role in developing reliable facilities for society. Furthermore, at BNG the public interest takes pride of place.
The organisation does not focus on max- imising profits but on benefits to society. This is what sets it apart from commer- cial banks. BNG enjoys Triple-A status and was recently voted the third most secure bank in the world.

Markets are becoming more competitive, customers more professional and yield requirements more prominent. BNG wants to occupy a strong position in this net- work of power relationships. It wishes to be regarded as a modern, professional, reliable partner that is visible to its stake- holders and that takes an integral approach to its customers’ financial needs based on a thorough, up-to-date knowledge of the public domain. In the context of disquiet in the financial markets, it is obvious that the solidity of the organisation will be highly rated and made explicit. After all, at the present time, solidity is the most important quality in the field of financial services.

BNG expresses its ambitions in both its symbolism and its communication programmes. These ambitions are to be the financial services provider that focuses on the public interest and creating benefits for society. It does this by being a reliable partner for its stake- holders. A partner that is able to bring high-quality expertise to bear on satis- fying the financial preconditions needed for realising projects that add value in the public domain. This may involve housing, healthcare, education, culture, regional development or other aspects that have a positive effect on the quality of life of Dutch citizens.

The key concept behind all the creative work is a brand personality character- ised as ‘new grey’. A financial services provider that is aware that its solidity and reliability are not boring (‘old grey’) but, in fact, its best points. And certainly so following the demise of many colour- ful, commercial alternatives. New grey
is solid and makes it possible to provide BNG’s story with the extremely colour- ful accents that it deserves. No pay-off is needed in this vision. That fact is that BNG’s story is its own promise.

The concept has been brought to life by shortening the name from Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten to BNG in an open, unifying typographic logo that emphasises the ability of BNG to coop- erate with its environment. The open, solid capitals refer to the reliability of the organisation while the logo’s colours refer to both reliability and a feeling of responsibility. The basic ‘new grey’ colour is enriched with a spectacular second- ary colour palette that accentuates BNG’s added value in the public domain. The communication is no more or less than BNG’s story – the story of the partner of a variety of different parties in the public domain that together implement projects that have a positive influence on the lives of every Dutch citizen.

The corporate design has been imple- mented. BNG’s story will be communi- cated internally to create support for the new positioning. The first external communication has appeared in the form of the 2008 Annual Report. The communi- cation programmes will be further rolled out in the course of 2009.