Global: Three in ten have an unfavourable view of the banking industry

A new YouGov study conducted for Bloomberg News shows that, across 17 global markets, perceptions of banking are more negative than positive. Over each country featured in this study, three in ten (30%) have an unfavourable view of the industry – with just a quarter (24%) having a positive view of it.

Consumers are mostly positive about banking in the APAC markets featured in our study. In Indonesia (58%) and India (56%) - where our samples are online rep and national urban rep respectively, rather than nationally representative – comfortably over half see the industry as a force for good. Singaporean (33% vs. 15%), Chinese (22% vs. 8%), and Hong Kong consumers (26% vs. 17%) are also considerably more likely to take a positive view of the industry than a negative one. Australia would be the key exception in the region: while a fifth (22%) have a positive view of financial services, over a third (36%) disagree.

Europeans are, on the whole, substantially less positive. It’s in Spain, for example, where the public are most likely to perceive the industry negatively, with three in five (60%) taking a poor view of it overall – and three in ten holding a very unfavourable (30%) view. This may be partially due to lingering grudges from the financial crisis. Denmark is a way off in second place when it comes to negative sentiment towards banks: 45% see them in an unflattering light, next to 15% who take the opposite stance. Great Britain, where the sector is estimated to contribute £132bn to GDP, comes in a close third – 44% take a dim view of the industry, next to just 11% who view it positively – with France not far behind (40% unfavourable vs. 12% favourable).

The fifth most negative country about the banking industry – and the first among non-European markets – is the US, where 39% view financial services unfavourably compared to 20% who look kindly on the sector.

Methodology

The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets. All interviews were conducted online in August 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.

Other findings from this study were featured in Bloomberg News.

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