Westpac could see its new ‘we’re a bank you can bank’ on branding strategy come back to bite it as the group champions itself as the boring yet safe man of Australian banking.

Consumers are generally fickle, which creates risk for a bank hanging its medium term success on the perception it is safe and secure – in other economic times this could be interpreted as inflexible, boring and bureaucratic.

Safety though is very much in vogue right now as consumers and investors look for asset protection as opposed to aggressive growth, yet just like the credit crunch – circumstances could turn against Westpac with relative speed.

A TV commercial for the bank cites a number of things the group represents – none of them sexy.

We’re factor 50… we’re half an hour after eating… we’re stick to the path… we’re double bows… we’re the safety bar, not the roller coaster… we’re the take a jumper in case…

Agreed, the campaign is effective at a time of significant upheaval in most matters finance, investing and economy related.

Yet prior to the crisis that beset banks the world over, a trend in banking had seen the growth of more nimble customer centric strategies and grassroots client focus.

Historically banks have been seen as places of excessive red-tape and administrative waste, and Australians are not generally enamoured with banks.

Risk managers are now the darling buds of banking, after a spell in the wilderness, having been partly ignored or muted in the pre-September 2007 gorge-years as they were viewed as fusspot handbrakes on growth.

The chances are with more influential risk departments today the chances are that growth will come at a lower rate, albeit with lower systemic risk to underlying businesses.

The challenge for banks, not just Westpac, is how to be deemed places of safety without the invariable bureaucracy and soon-to-be followed inevitable customer frustration from creeping in?

Most consumers, for example, when they decide on finance want things to happen post-haste (the modern consumerism mentality of I want it now).

If organisations, Westpac included, introduce additional rounds of checking or documentation (as part of its safe bank strategy but from the customer side of the counter) this is liable to alienate customers and stymie growth.

There’s a big difference in banking between being a secure and stable institution and a place where pen-pushing bureaucrats rule.

Banks would be wise to err on the side that commands customer respect not their indignation.