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Trust in U.S. Financial Services Still Low Despite Economic, Market Gains
Stakeholders Urge Ethical Business Practices; Honest Communication Will Strengthen Trust
NEW YORK, March 13, 2012 Nearly four years since the global economic meltdown began, the nations financial services and banking industries remains among the least trusted by consumers, reveals the latest annual global survey of trust conducted by the global public relations firm Edelman. Despite an improvement in the economy, the industry has yet to recover from an international backlash by publics who largely blamed financial institutions for the worlds economic woes.

The 2012 data show that less than half of respondents (46 percent) trust financial services. Similarly, only 41 percent of respondents indicated they trust banks. However, both experienced a significant uptick in trust from last year, when they bottomed out at 25 percent. While trust in every industry declined in 2008 after the global economic crisis, financial institutions and auto companies were particularly hard hit, said Matthew J. Harrington, U.S. president and CEO, Edelman. Since then, an industry-wide commitment to producing high-quality products and communicating openly and honestly with customers has lifted auto companies out of the global trust doldrums, but financial institutions still have a long way to go to regain the level of trust enjoyed prior to the financial meltdown. Edelmans survey indicates that societal attributes of financial institutions played a more dominant role than operations when it comes to rebuilding trust. Respondents ranked has ethical business practices (76 percent), listens to customer needs and feedback (74 percent), and places customers ahead of profits (73 percent) as the most important actions financial firms should take to rebuild trust.

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From an operational perspective, respondents indicated communicates frequently and honestly on the state of its business (69 percent), offers high quality products or services (66 percent), and has transparent and open business practices (65 percent) as the most important. Financial services firms and banks will rebuild trust through societal factors and stakeholder engagement, rather than operational characteristics, said Jeff Zilka, general manager, financial communications, Edelman. Our survey highlights the need for principles-based leadership rather than rules-based performance. Equally important, consumers are eager to communicate with brands. Financial institutions will do well to listen to what their stakeholders are saying and act on those key learnings. Start a dialogue with industry distrusters. The survey revealed that those who distrust financial services and banks are less than half as likely as those who trust these institutions to believe corporate sources of information (31 percent vs. 77 percent). Rather, more than two-thirds (67 percent) of industry distrusters will believe company information reported in traditional media and 64 percent will trust multiple online sources. To start a valuable dialogue with stakeholders, financial services companies and banks need to ensure that what they want heard is accessible beyond their own website, Zilka said. This means engaging with the press and participating in social media. Identify and leverage credible spokespeople. Respondents who said they trusted financial services and banks indicated that a technical expert in the company was the most credible company spokesperson (80 percent), while industry distrusters consider a person like yourself to be the most credible (68 percent). Take responsible action to address issues and crises. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents said taking responsible action to address an issue or crisis is a critical attribute to building trust. The auto industry course-corrected when it addressed consumer concerns that crystalized in government bailouts, perceived low-quality products and behaviors that were out-of-touch with customer needs and wants. If financial companies want to emerge from their trust deficit, they, too, will need to take ownership of perceived faults and prove theyre acting on customer wishes, Zilka added. Detailed survey findings on the state of trust in financial services and banks can be found here.
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About the Edelman Trust Barometer The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer is the firms 12th annual trust and credibility survey. The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer online survey sampled 25,000 general population respondents with an oversample of 5,600 informed publics in two age groups (25-34 and 35-64) across 25 countries. All informed publics met the following criteria: college-educated; household income in the top quartile for their age in their country; read or watch business/news media at least several times a week; follow public policy issues in the news at least several times a week. The survey was produced by research firm StrategyOne and consisted of 20-minute online interviews conducted from October 10 - November 30, 2011. For more information, visit http://www.edelman.com/trust.

About Edelman Edelman is the worlds largest public relations firm, with 63 offices and more than 4,200 employees worldwide, as well as affiliates in more than 30 cities. Edelman was named Advertising Ages top-ranked PR firm of the decade in 2009 and one of its A-List Agencies in both 2010 and 2011; Adweeks 2011 PR Agency of the Year; PRWeeks 2011 Large PR Agency of the Year; and The Holmes Reports 2011 Global Agency of the Year. Edelman was named one of the Best Places to Work by Advertising Age in 2010 and among Glassdoors top five 2011 Best Places to Work. Edelman owns specialty firms Blue (advertising), StrategyOne (research), Ruth (brands + experiences), DJE Science (medical education/publishing and science communications), MATTER (sports, sponsorship, and entertainment), and Edelman Consulting. Visit http://www.edelman.com for more information. ###