Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) – Damage Control: What Should Big Banks Do to Repair Their Brands?

Matt: Well, yeah. I guess thinking back to… one of the big brand destroyers over the past few years was the BP disaster, right?

I think back to the… they did a flood of advertising after that, and I’m not really sure that that really did a whole lot. But the fact that BP Phillips stations are convenient for people, and they offer gas… I don’t know.

Rick: Do you have any last words of advice for somebody who’s thinking of investing in financials, who may just be getting their feet wet?

Matt: Oh, well… I would encourage not to invest based on just the general sense of things. When we talk about the headlines, the negative headlines, obviously that’s one issue; you don’t even bother looking at the sector because you read the headlines, and “Ah, banks are terrible.”

Then the other side of the coin is just looking at the surface. Maybe looking at a valuation, or thinking about, “Oh, I bank with Bank of America,” or “I bank with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and I think they’re great.” It’s very important to dig in, to do your homework, to do your research and really understand what it is that you’re investing in.

Yeah, the big banks are a little bit complex, but I don’t think they’re beyond investors’ comprehension. I think if you open up the annual report, you read what’s going on, you listen to some conference calls, listen to what they’re talking about, listen to what they’re focusing on, you get that understanding.

I think the understanding of what the individual bank does — because like I said, they’re not all the same — the Big Four banks aren’t all the same. The banks under that aren’t all the same. I think it’s important to really understand the individual bank you’re investing in.

The article Damage Control: What Should Big Banks Do to Repair Their Brands? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Matt Koppenheffer.

Matt Koppenheffer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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