A new global study into how customers view their banks is relatively good news for the Aussies ones, with over 70 per cent of Australians surveyed saying their bank was competent.
However, in less flattering news some 40 per cent of Australians say they don’t trust their bank.
The survey by YouGov polled over 12,500 people in UK, US, UAE, Europe and Asia Pacific and found across the world there are huge differences in perceptions of trust and respect for banks.
In Australia, 60 per cent of Aussies say they trust banks. In terms of respect, almost 60 per cent of Aussies say they respect banks. More than 70 per cent of Aussies agree that the banks they use are competent and know what they are doing. Half of the respondents in Australia also agree that banks are a force for good, and slightly less than half agree that banks act in their customers’ best interests.
But how does it compared to the rest of the world? Perhaps unsurprisingly, the European countries surveyed are generally the least positive, while in Asia there is more variance.
People from Thailand have a mostly positive impression while, perhaps due to the persistently stagnant economy, people in Japan are less optimistic. Australia and the US have responses that are generally more in the middle of the road.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Americans seem to be largely more forgiving of financial institutions than Europeans, while Australians, less affected by the crisis on the whole, seem fairly neutral towards the industry.
Details of the survey can be found in the below infographic