Consumer trust has all but gone from the banking industry as our research shows you’d put estate agents, builders and accountants above bankers in terms of trust. What can the banks do to regain your trust?
I’ve lost my trust in the banks, but it seems I’m not the only one. In our survey, we found that only 11% of Brits still trust bankers to work in their best interests – that’s less than lawyers and estate agents. To put that in context, here’s a table of professions rated in order of most to least trusted:
We also found that only 26% of consumers thought that lying and cheating would lead to individual bankers losing their jobs, compared to 73% for nurses and 68% for doctors.
In addition, just 29% of consumers thought that bankers would lose their jobs for failing to comply with the industry’s code of ethics, compared to 79% for nurses and 78% for doctors.
The results of this survey aren’t too surprising, but they are very concerning. How can it be acceptable for just 11% of people to believe that our money and economy is in safe hands?
Our survey also found that just one in ten people think that bankers are well regulated, with only one in five believing that bankers are properly trained and qualified.
Many Convo commenters have shared their frustrations, including Alistair Scott, who said:
‘[Bankers] aims changed from looking after their customers’ money to setting up hugely complicated and risky financial trading systems that would enable them to gamble with their customers’ money and generate vast bonuses for themselves.’
Rosamund Urwin from the Evening Standard even seemed surprised that such a high percentage of consumers still trust bankers, saying she’s ‘not sure what won over that 11%’, while TransferWise on Facebook suggested, ‘that 11% must be their mums’!
There’s no doubt that something needs to be done urgently if our faith in banks is to be restored. And now, in the wake of the Libor scandal, the government has commissioned a banking inquiry to make recommendations on how to fix banking culture.
Our Big Change campaign hopes to address some of these issues, but what could the banks do to regain your trust?
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