The quality of banking services – including mortgage loans and lending to small businesses – was rated poorly by British respondents to the survey of over 26,000 people worldwide. Less than a third said they trusted the banks, compared to half of American and 80% of Chinese respondents.
British respondents also showed higher than average awareness of last year’s banking and financial services scandals. A corporate culture driven by compensation and bonuses was the most common reason given for the scandals, followed by corporate corruption, overlarge institutions and a lack of regulation.
Edelman global practices president and chief executive Alan VanderMolen said: “The financial services industry must become more aggressive in explaining its business model and do away with terms such as ‘proprietary trading’. Stakeholders have to understand how banks are making money and how the industry is working to benefit its shareholders and society.”
The survey found trust in banks had dropped by 25% since the 2008 financial crisis, a fall in confidence beaten only by that of Spain. Trust in financial services was also low, at 34%.
In general, developed economies rated bank performance far lower than emerging markets, especially on practices like lending to small businesses and providing residential mortgage loans.
