British bank Barclays is set to drop its three-century-old logo of an eagle in favour of Dutch bank ABN Amro's shield world-wide if the merger between the two banks is completed, The Times reported on June 19.
Citing unidentified sources close to Barclays, the paper said that the British bank had come under pressure to drop its logo because of concerns the design has Nazi connotations. "It is rather a Teutonic looking eagle and has unfortunate connotations," an unnamed source told the paper.
Sources close to ABN meanwhile told The Times that it had been informally agreed that a version of ABN's logo would be adopted for the joint bank, though it was likely Barclays would retain the eagle if the merger fell through.
Barclays's eagle logo predates Nazi Germany by more than 200 years, having been the original logo of Barclays's predecessor bank, which set up in London's financial district in 1690.
Concerns over the logo were prompted because of sensitivities in the Netherlands towards Nazi symbols, as Nazi Germany during World War II occupied the country.
By seeking to take over ABN Amro with its 65 billion-euro (86.4 billion-dollar) offer, Barclays is bidding to create a vast global group and the second-biggest bank in Europe after HSBC.
It faces a rival offer worth 71.4 billion euros, however, from a consortium led by British rival Royal Bank of Scotland, which wants to break up ABN Amro.