Out with the new, in with the old.
TIAA Bank will rebrand as EverBank — the name that it used prior to its 2017 acquisition by New York-based retirement giant TIAA — following a pending sale that's expected to close later this summer.
The rebranding will be effective as soon as TIAA finalizes the sale of its Jacksonville, Florida-based bank unit to investors, said company spokesperson Michael Cosgrove, who did not provide an estimated cost for the rebranding.
The sale was
"I think it was always going to be a case that the bank would be rebranded and renamed once the sale was complete," Cosgrove said. "So we've been working on the branding and the new name since the transaction was announced last November."
As part of the rebranding, the home stadium of the Jacksonville Jaguars will become EverBank Stadium, a change that's expected to be formalized ahead of the NFL team's first regular-season home game on Sept. 17, Cosgrove said.
EverBank purchased the naming rights to the stadium ahead of the 2010 NFL season and extended the relationship
The stadium was called EverBank Field before being
But the return of the stadium's earlier name may be short-lived.
Plans to revamp the stadium with renovations valued at over $1 billion could open new naming rights and sponsorship opportunities, Jaguars President Mark Lamping said in a community meeting,
The bank looks forward to marketing its new brand at the Jaguars' first regular-season game in September, Cosgrove said. He noted that some sportscasters have struggled to pronounce "TIAA Bank Field," opting instead for the colloquial Jacksonville tradition of calling it "The Bank."
In their first regular-season home game, the Jaguars will face the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. "It's a great opportunity to introduce new brands nationwide," Cosgrove said.
The EverBank brand will enable the $38.6 billion-asset bank to serve more clients nationwide, Cosgrove said. "We're launching the new bank with a new fresh brand that we think is really forward-looking and captures the spirit that we're trying to build with the new bank," he said.
TIAA is selling nearly all of the bank's business lines and assets as part of the transaction. The buyers include funds managed by Stone Point Capital, Warburg Pincus, Reverence Capital Partners, Sixth Street and Bayview Asset Management.
Branding experts gave mixed reviews to the bank's second name change in five years.
Steven Reider, president of the consulting firm Bancography, said the rebranding reflects a strategy to distinguish the bank from TIAA, as well as to fuel national growth.
"It positions the bank as an independent entity — versus part of some larger, amorphous, collection of letters," Reider said. "Obviously, they chose a geographically agnostic name … that supports expansion."
But he also said that the rebranding may create the perception that the earlier name change didn't work. "I think there could be a bit of a negative perception there from consumers," he said.
Jim Marous, co-publisher of The Financial Brand and owner of Digital Banking Report, argued that the name change may confuse consumers, even though he said EverBank is the superior brand, and one that is familiar to existing customers.
"Consumers, as well as employees, don't necessarily love change," said Marous. "It doesn't matter what kind of change."
Marous also said that the timing may prove inopportune, since the banking industry is grappling from the turmoil caused by recent bank failures. Many customers transferred funds from midsize banks to larger institutions following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March.
"Any negative impacts may be short-lived," Marous said. "It's just initially, I think they're going to have more struggles than you normally would with a name change."
For his part, Cosgrove said that the shift back to the EverBank brand will be seamless.
"It has been business as usual for our clients through the whole transition. It will continue to be after the transaction closes and going forward," Cosgrove said. "We'll be gradually rolling out marketing materials and other things in the coming weeks and months."
