The Least Trusted Banks in America

Forrester Research's annual Customer Advocacy rankings, ranks nearly 50 financial services firms in the United States by the percentage of each firm's customers who agree with the statement: "My financial provider does what's best for me, not just its own bottom line." The results are based on a survey of about 4,500 consumers.

The bottom seven of this year's rankings, first to last, are Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, TD/Commerce, Fifth Third, Citibank, and in last place, HSBC.

Among Bank of America customers, 33 percent agreed with the statement above, while 31 percent of Chase customers agreed, 29 percent of Capital One customers agreed, 28 percent of TD/Commerce Bank customers agreed, 27 percent of Fifth Third Bank customers agreed and 26 percent of Citibank customers agreed.

To put the rankings in perspective, large banks have generally been at the bottom of the list since the survey was initiated seven years ago, and many of the banks have alternated between the bottom spots year to year, said a Forrester vice president, Bill Doyle, who wasn't aware of anything particular HSBC has done recently that would make its score so low. Last year, for instance, Capital One was at the bottom with 22 percent of its customers agreeing with the statement. In fact, the more customers a banking institution has, the lower its customer advocacy ranking is likely to be, according to Forrester.

Why the poor rankings for the big banks? "Part of it is that the banks are preoccupied with their bottom line. They are public institutions who are in business to make money for their shareholder and inevitably, that shows to customers," Mr. Doyle said.

Sidebar Notes from Grandpa:
 
Capital One Financial spent $419,000 lobbying congress in Q4 2009 down slightly from their $419,000 expenditures in Q3 2009. The big gun for all of 2009 was JP Morgan Chase spending $6.17 million.


Eight of the largest banks spent $25.8 million for lobbying in 2009 up from the $24.4 million spent in 2008. The eight: JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs (still looking for a single branch office), Wells Fargo, New York Mellon and State Street.


Does anyone really wonder why financial reform has yet to be drafted let alone implemented?