The word "Bitcoin" has become tainted within culture. Bitcoin is commonly associated with things like Silk Road, MT Gox, ect..all sorts of scandals. So, when marketing bitcoin, people are now talking about "blockchains" and not "bitcoins"
This is not why banks and companies are talking about blockchain.
The blockchain technology provides an accounting system that is more difficult to manipulate or fraud and is cheaper to maintain - because you don't need a bunch of auditors making sure that all the transactions are legit! This is why banks and companies want to use blockchains for their transactions. It increases accuracy, lowers risk, and lowers costs (read as increased profit!)
Banks don't even want to be involved in an alt coin (as some have mentioned here). They just want to do business more efficiently, especially if it saves them money.