Rebranding a fintech company: What you need to know before you start

You’ve evolved. Your product is stronger. Your team is bigger. Your customers have changed.

But the brand? It still feels like where you started, not where you're going.
This is where rebrands begin: not from failure, but from friction. And in fintech, where trust and clarity drive adoption, that friction quietly becomes expensive.

Before you start the process, here’s what you need to know and what to get clear on.

Weak brands rarely break all at once. They wear down over time, quietly eroding traction and trust.

• Your brand feels early-stage. Investors hesitate. Partners second-guess. The design says "startup" while the strategy says "scale."
• Your site still explains features, not value. You’ve matured, but your messaging hasn’t.
• Your internal team avoids the brand. Sales teams make their own decks. Designers improvise. Consistency disappears.
• You’re seeing better-funded competitors show up sharper. And your team notices.

Example:
Brex is a clear example of what happens when a brand outgrows its early-stage identity and chooses to evolve.

Originally known as the startup credit card, Brex had traction, funding, and recognition. But the brand still looked and felt like a young tech company: light, playful, and product-first. As the company expanded into spend management, B2B finance, and enterprise accounts, that brand no longer fit. It didn’t reflect the level of control, scale, or trust they were building internally.

Brex rebranded with intention. A darker, more confident visual system. Bolder typography. Clearer hierarchy. The tone shifted from casual to commanding. And it worked. The new brand positioned Brex as a serious financial partner, not just a smart tool.

It’s a reminder: the rebrand wasn’t about style. It was about showing the outside world what had already changed on the inside.

Here’s what we see across fintech rebrands, from early-stage products to global platforms:

• Starting with the logo. It feels productive, but skips the harder questions: who are we now, and who are we trying to reach?
• Copying category leaders. The end result looks clean, but forgettable. How many brands now look like Revolut?
• Skipping alignment. If leadership isn’t aligned early, expect feedback loops and internal resets halfway through.
• Underestimating the rollout. A rebrand isn’t just new visuals. It’s activation. If you don’t plan for rollout, your team keeps using the old brand anyway.

Example:
Jaguar’s rebrand is a sharp reminder that how you rebrand matters as much as when.

In 2024, facing stalled growth and declining relevance, Jaguar opted for a bold reinvention: clean visuals, minimalist digital aesthetics, and a tone aimed at a younger, luxury-forward audience.

But the brand they built wasn’t for their current audience. It was for the audience they wished they had.

They uprooted a legacy brand rich with equity and recognition and replaced it with something that felt detached from Jaguar’s history. Longtime customers were alienated. New audiences weren’t convinced. Internally, the shift felt disconnected from the product roadmap.

As of May 2025, Jaguar has confirmed what the market already felt: the rebrand was a mistake. The problem wasn’t that change was needed. It was how the change was handled: without continuity, without clarity, and without connection.

Most failed rebrands don’t fall apart at the design stage. They fall apart before the project even starts.

1. What problem are you actually solving?
"Looking outdated" is a symptom, not a cause. Are you trying to reposition? Build trust? Prepare for expansion? Know your why.

2. Who’s leading the rebrand internally?
If ownership is unclear, the process will stall. Appoint someone who can make decisions and bring leadership along early.

3. What’s working, and what’s not?
Sometimes you’re keeping the name. Sometimes the entire system has to go. But until you audit what’s still useful, you risk throwing out what’s already working.

4. Who are you building the brand for, really?
We’ve seen teams design for themselves, not their audience. The result? A polished brand that feels disconnected to the people it's meant to serve.

5. How will success be measured?
Rebranding can feel subjective. But you can track clarity, consistency, internal adoption, and customer perception. Set the targets now, not after launch.

This article is your signal. The guide is your structure. We’ve led fintech rebrands across growth stages, markets, and models. If you’re planning one, don’t start without a plan. It walks you through every phase, from decision to rollout.