Indian banks enjoy trust of customers: Gallup poll

Despite the global financial crisis and alleged malpractices shaking the confidence of customers in banks, especially in developed countries, Indian banks enjoy the trust and confidence of about 70 per cent of the respondents, according to a poll conducted by Gallup last year.

The proportion of those confident about financial institutions and banks was the highest in southeast Asia, followed by south Asia.

"In sharp contrast to Europe and the US, many Asian countries have weathered the global financial crisis well and emerged with considerable economic momentum. This momentum helps explain why confidence in financial institutions was highest in Asia last year, particularly among emerging markets in southeast and south Asia, where median trust was 77 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively," Gallup said in a statement.

In Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia, nine of every 10 respondents expressed confidence in the financial institutions in their respective countries. Confidence in financial institutions was the lowest in the European Union (EU). Among the 27 EU member states, a median 37 per cent of residents said they had confidence in their country's banks, while 55 said they didn't.

Respondents in Greece, Ireland and Iceland had the lowest confidence in the financial institutions and banks in their respective countries; respondents in Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Thailand had the highest confidence levels. In Rwanda, 91 per cent of the respondents said they had confidence in the financial institutions there. The trust level in the US (37 per cent respondents had confidence in that country's financial institutions) was the same as the EU median, in line with the record-low levels Gallup had found three years after the recession officially ended in the US.

The results of the survey are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with about 1,000 individuals in each of the 135 countries surveyed.