Governance is top driver of reputation in the banking industry this year; citizenship among top three issues for first time

Boston, MA, June 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — USAA and Harris Bank are the most reputable banks in the United States this year, according to Reputation Institute and American Banker’s 2018 Annual Survey of Bank Reputations.

“This year’s results reveal that workplace, governance, leadership and financial performance are most important to banking customers,” said Brad Hecht, Senior Managing Director of Americas at Reputation Institute. “A strong reputation is especially important for a bank as it facilitates customer appeal and loyalty, operating license from policymakers and regulators, and employee attraction and retention. For the first time, governance is the leading banking industry driver and citizenship is among the top three drivers for both customers and non-customers, indicating in a shift in consumer priorities.”

The eighth annual survey — a partnership between Reputation Institute and American Banker — measures US consumers’ perceptions of major bank brands. Companies were drawn from the Federal Reserve’s list of large commercial banks with final selections determined by American Banker based on the sizes of each firm’s assets and deposits. Only companies with significant retail businesses and/or brands were considered. 

The Top 10 banks ranked by bank customers in the 2018 survey are:

1.   USAA Bank
2.   Harris Bank
3.   Regions
4.   Huntington Bank
5.   BOK Financial
6.   PNC
7.   BB&T
8.   Discover Bank
9.   Northern Trust
10. Synovus

Amid the success of the top banks, many organizations in the financial industry are experiencing significant challenges. Following this year’s global and national trends of broad reputation declines, the 2018 US Banking industry reputation dropped to the midrange of average in 2017, its lowest since 2015. Bank reputations declined similarly with both customers and non-customers vs. 2017 as former advocates have shifted to a more neutral position for both customers and non-customers.

“Reputation risks have changed in banking this year. The willingness to trust and give benefit of the doubt has seen the biggest declines of all supportive behaviors,” said Sven Klingemann, Global Research Manager at Reputation Institute. “This poses a significant threat to license to operate for banks. However, there is a significant opportunity in the industry as more than half of all non-customers and four out of 10 customers can be converted to promoters with the right reputation management strategy.”

To see the full results of the 2018 Bank RepTrak study, and understand the reputation trends driving business performance in the financial industry this year, register for the 2018 Bank RepTrak webinar taking place July 12, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. EDT: https://www.reputationinstitute.com/2018-bank-reptrak 

Learn More and Get Your Reputation Pulse Score

On an annual basis Reputation Institute measures the reputation of thousands of companies using the RepTrak® framework, including measures of the most highly regarded and familiar multinational companies in 15 countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

To get your company’s 2018 score and learn how you can improve your ranking and grow your stakeholder support, just ask us at: https://www.reputationinstitute.com/about/Contact-Us

About Reputation Institute

Reputation Institute powers the world’s most reputable companies. By tracking and analyzing stakeholder perceptions, we unleash the power of reputation intelligence to enable leaders to build better companies. Our RepTrak® model analyzes the reputations of companies and is best known as the Forbes-published RepTrak 100. Underlying the model is the RepTrak methodology, the global gold standard for measuring reputation.

Learn more at: http://www.reputationinstitute.com

CONTACT: Karen Hopp
Bazini Hopp for Reputation Institute
917-514-1723
[email protected]