Consumer trust in financial services stabilizes; no grounds for complacency

National banks, brokerage, and insurance companies has become significantly more stable

TNS survey finds trust in large national banks, brokerage, and insurance companies has become significantly more stable

New York, NY - TNS, the world’s largest custom research company, today released the latest results of its Trust Survey. After experiencing the biggest drop in the first four months of 2009, levels of consumer trust have rebounded slightly for the nation’s large national banks, insurance companies, and brokerages. Fielded in October 2008 and again in January, April and July of 2009, this survey of 1,000 US consumers charts trust levels across several major industries and provides detailed insight into consumer attitudes toward financial services companies.

Overall levels of trust among consumers, which still remain below previous levels have strengthened over the last few months. “The precipitous drop in consumer trust appears to have leveled off. Though consumers remain cautious about the future, we don’t see the levels of distrust we saw in the first six months of this year, ”according to Trish Dorsey, Senior Vice President, Financial Services Brand and Communications TNS. “Specifically, when comparing results from our previous survey in April 2009, we are seeing that large national banks and brokerage companies have made positive strides in effectively communicating to their consumers and have left them feeling more adequately supported and confident.” Progress had been made, but there is more work to do

In April 2009, 61 percent of consumers said that their trust in large national banks had declined over the previous three months. When asked about their level of distrust in July, the 61 percent fell to 47 percent. These positive trends in consumer trust can also be seen with regard to brokerage and investment houses where the level of distrust has gone from 61 percent in April to 45 percent in July. Every category of financial institution showed an improvement in confidence levels between April 2009 and July 2009. “ The good news here is that overall consumer trust levels seem to have bottomed out in April’09 and are now showing signs of stabilizing as most industries (with the exception of Automotive and Government) show stronger levels of trust in July’09, ” Commented Dorsey. “However, we do need to be mindful of the fact that these improved levels of trust are NOT driven by more consumers saying their trust is higher. It is more a function of consumers moving to a more ”neutral“ or stable place. This suggests that there is more work to be done for institutions to engage their customers and make them feel safe with their financial choices.”

About TNS
TNS, who recently merged with Research International, is the world’s largest custom research agency delivering actionable insights and research-based business advice to its clients so they can make more effective business decisions. TNS offers comprehensive industry knowledge within the Consumer, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Political & Social sectors, supported by a unique product offering that stretches across the entire range of marketing and business issues, specializing in product development & innovation, brand & communication, stakeholder management, retail & shopper, and qualitative research. Delivering best-in-class service across more than 75 countries, TNS is part of Kantar, the world’s largest research, insight and consultancy network. Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information.

The Kantar Group
The Kantar Group is one of the world’s largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies - including the recently-acquired TNS - the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc. For further information, please visit www.kantargrouptns.com