Purpose

The purpose of this article is to investigate the role of formal ties in the marketing of financial services and thus provide evidence concerning the relationship between formal ties and the customer appeal of banks and investment banks.

Design/methodology/approach

The article uses correspondence analysis to study formal ties between financial market actors and relates them to customer rankings. The formal ties are described as intra-, inter- and extra-organizational ties.

Findings

We find that there are several formal ties between financial market actors and provide compelling evidence illustrating how the attractions between financial service providers are related in several ways to the existence of formal ties between market actors.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to formal, as opposed to informal, ties. We examine the essential implications of such ties.Practical implicationsIn practice, banks and investment banks should consider the implications of formal ties and market connections to improve their performance.

Originality/value

The originality of this study consists in showing the relevance of various attributes in studying networks in financial markets and in contributing to an understanding of social attributes and formal organization.