Abstract

In order to keep the present and attract the new clients, banks need to be clearly positioned on the market, and they can do this through the creation of identity. In the modern literature in the area of bank marketing, the identity is defined more and more as an effective tool for banks to gain competitive advantage. The unique identity of a bank represents competitive advantage that is impossible to copy. This is highly significant for banks, since bank services have a short cycle of development that cannot be patented, and this enables the competition to simply imitate the innovations and create similar offers. This paper analyses bank identity in Bosnia and Herzegovina applying the ACID test used to manage corporate identity. The application of the ACID test contains three basic phases, that is: to determine the actual, communicated, ideal, and desired identity; to determine the relation between those identities; and to diagnose actions that need to be taken in order to minimize their non-consistency. According to the research results, it can be concluded that there are significant deviations between the actual, communicated, ideal and desired identity of banks on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a consequence of the lack of systemic approach to manage this phenomenon. Therefore, suggestions are given on how to remove, that is, to minimize non-consistency between the four named identities.

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