What Sounds Better Than "Bank"?

Every new bank – and they keep popping up – faces an immediate marketing challenge: What to name the new institution?

By itself, the word "bank" gives off negative vibes these days. Some megabanks have lost billions and billions of dollars. Regional banks, as the NY Times reports, are cutting their dividends and demoting their investors from the ranks of High Net Worth Individuals.

Two new banks have solved the name problem the same way: Just add "Trust."

Thus, the Darien-Rowayton Bank, in the Senior Assistant Blogger's old home town, calls itself Darien-Rowayton Bank and Trust. And Optima Bank, just opened near the SAB's current home, calls itself Optima Bank and Trust.

Yet judging from their web sites, neither bank actually has a trust division. Darien-Rowayton Bank hopes to install one (and offers trust service via Tompkins Trust in the meantime). Optima appears to be fully focused on loans and deposits.

In recent times many banks renamed their trust divisions as wealth management Divisions. But now that term has been pretty well co-opted by brokers selling investment products. Wonder if those old Trust Division signs are still in the basement?