HSBC has been awarded the title of most valuable banking brand in the world for the third time in a row, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

The award that comes from Brand Finance, a banker magazine, is the outcome of a direct comparison of the values of the world's leading banking brands in its report Banking 500.

"HSBC is very good at the basics. It is delivering a very good product, very good service and it has a tremendous advertising campaign," said David Haigh, chief executive of Brand Finance.

The ranking system looked at the world's 500 most valuable banking groups and measured them by both their brand strength and value as of December 31,2009.

The report says HSBC has increased its brand value by 12 percent to $28.5 billion compared to the previous years.