Customer perceptions of U.S. banking and diversified financial services companies have improved sharply over the past year, according to the latest Annual Survey of Bank Reputations released today.
Eight banks in the survey achieved customer-reputation scores high enough to qualify as “excellent” and no bank in the survey failed to achieve a score at or above the “moderate/average” range.
The results of the survey, conducted by Reputation Institute and published by American Banker, are the strongest for the industry since the annual survey began six years ago. (Full results are available atAmericanBanker.com/bank-reputations-2015.)
Regions Financial had the top overall reputation score from customers, with particularly strong improvements this year in the area of citizenship and in perceptions of how ethical, transparent and fair it is.
“America’s most reputable banks recognize that it’s not enough to demonstrate strong financial performance,” says Brad Hecht, VP and Chief Research Officer at Reputation Institute. “The other key drivers of reputation in banking and financial services are products and services, the workplace, and the fairness, openness and transparency in the way that companies govern.”
Banks overall also improved their reputations among noncustomers, though the top scores remain in the “average” range (which is between 60 and 69 on the 100-point scale).
“Only three banks have the distinction of being in the top 10 with both customers and noncustomers: Regions, Huntington and Synovus,” said Bonnie McGeer, Executive Editor of American Banker Magazine. “It’s worth noting that all three have articulated a similar corporate philosophy of doing what is in the best interest of their customers and making a difference in their communities.”
The 2015 Survey of Bank Reputations measured U.S. consumers’ perceptions of 32 major bank brands. The annual survey provides a detailed analysis of the components that formulate corporate reputations, and how each bank rates on those measures. Scores are based on the results of an online survey that was fielded in March and April of 2015.
The full results and related analysis of this year’s study can also be found in the July issue of American Banker Magazine. Additional information is available at www.reputationinstitute.com/us-banking-reptrak.
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American Banker, a SourceMedia brand, is the essential resource for senior executives in banking and financial services, keeping its users updated on vital developments and focusing sharply on their most important concerns. Financial industry professionals turn to American Banker to stay maximally informed and engage with an authoritative community of analysts, practitioners and innovators through opinion content, research panels, social media, and live events. American Banker Magazine is a monthly publication of American Banker, focusing on the ideas the people, and the companies that are changing the way bankers do business.
ABOUT REPUTATION INSTITUTE
Reputation Institute (RI) is the world’s leading consulting and advisory firm for reputation. RI enables many of the world’s leading companies to make more confident business decisions that build and protect reputation capital, analyze risk and sustainability topics, and drive competitive advantage. RI’s most prominent management tool is the RepTrak® model for analyzing the reputations of companies and institutions — best known via the Global RepTrak® 100, the world’s largest and most comprehensive study of corporate reputations, as well as Country RepTrak® and City RepTrak® studies that look at reputation across organizations within a given geography.
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