More than 1,000 people signed a petition in response to the “dominos” logo appearing on the bank’s logo.
The signatories argued that the word “the” was used in a way that was “inappropriate” and “inherently offensive” and that “the bank” was the “bank of the citizens” instead.
The logo also has a “proudly Australian” image.
However, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has ruled that the logo “is appropriate” and has “not been deemed offensive or inappropriate”.
“The logo does not disparage the bank,” ASIC said.
“The bank is an important part of the Australian economy and the Australian public has a right to expect that their bank logo is used appropriately.”‘
Dumb’ logos for banking are now a thing of the pastIn 2014, a Federal Court ruled that a company’s logo could not be used as the bank logo and said that “any logo used for a company which is the financial institution of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory does not necessarily convey that it is a corporate entity”.
The Australian Banking Association, which represents banking industry members, said in a statement that the “dumb” logos were “now a thing in Australian history”.
“This is the biggest sign that the Australian banking industry is finally coming around to the concept that we can have our bank logo,” the association’s CEO, Paul McGann, told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“If you look at the last 10 years, we have seen an enormous amount of progress in the way banks have looked at their logo.”
In 2016, the ACCC issued guidance saying that it was “not a sufficient standard for the use of a logo for the purposes of banking”.
The rules stated that a bank’s “brand, name, business and reputation” should be used to distinguish it from other businesses.
The ACCC also recommended that logos for banks should be “reasonably distinctive”, without being “unreasonably difficult to read”.
The new guidelines also said that the use “of a logo should not be unnecessarily offensive, offensive or unduly confusing”.
But Mr McGann said he believed that banks were not following the new guidance and had taken advantage of a loophole in the guidelines to get around them.
“There’s a whole host of other organisations that have tried to do this and it’s really, really difficult to do it because it’s very complex and there are a lot of variables that come into play,” he said.’
It is offensive’The ASIC said that it would now be “appropriate” for banks to use their own logos for logo purposes.”ASIC has concluded that the current logo is sufficiently appropriate for its role in the organisation of the financial services industry and that it does not violate the Code of Conduct for Business Conduct,” it said in the statement.
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