It’s an interesting time to be in retail financial services. Those of you in the US (which I know is most of you) will be aware of the recent big-name casualties, but in the UK we have a mini-version of a banking collapse.

To recap, Lloyds TSB and HBOS, the fourth and second largest mortgage lender respectively, entered into what felt like a shotgun marriage last week. Earlier in the year, Northern Rock went bust and was bailed out by the government. And this weekend, Bradford and Bingley, the eighth largest mortgage lender, is also rumoured to be lined up for part-nationalisation.

What does all this mean for us as brands observers? On the one level, it threatens to introduce an alarming level of commoditization of brands. Bradford and Bingley savings customers, allegedly, are going to be ‘transferred’ to an as-yet-undetermined other.

Will customers protest and leave? Probably not, because the perceived differences between banks and building societies is, sadly, minimal. But banks are complacent at their peril. Our experience of big brand change, whether this is a merger, a re-brand or a takeover, suggests that customers in traditionally low-interest categories, take the moment of change as an opportunity to reassess their provider. And this is probably the greatest ‘moment of change’ for retail financial services in living memory.

This perceptions shift is not just change driven by everyday commercial factors. The fabric of the system itself is at risk and the customer is scared. After all, it’s not just small institutions getting in trouble here. And as politicians around the world know only too well, fear is a potent driver of preference. The brands that can be seen to be tackling this fear head-on will be the winners.

So, with the retail customer is uniquely sensitized and likely to be more open to switching than at any time, what can brands do to capitalize on this?

Smaller bank brands have to reassess their positioning when a customer has had his or her confidence fundamentally undermined. Why should I stick with a small bank when it could be at higher risk of collapse than a bigger, safer bank? Localness, customer service, the backing of a bigger institution are all good start points. In essence, they need to find a relevant point of difference that will counter the potential perception that bigger is safer.

Bigger brands need to ‘get boring’ and remind the customer why they are to be trusted. For the moment, trust and reliability are valuable currency.

Of course, whether the lesson throughout this is learned for the long term and we prevent ourselves from over-stretching into unmanageable levels of debt again remains to be seen. But while there is a climate of fear, bank brands have a unique opportunity to grab market share and set themselves up for when the good times roll around again.