Customer Advocacy 2010: How Customers Rate US Banks, Investment Firms, And Insurers

Consumer trust in financial institutions is returning. One year after the financial crisis brought the US economy to its knees, customers are more likely to say their financial institutions do what's best for them. But the positive sentiment is not evenly distributed. Insurers — especially property and casualty firms like USAA and American Family Insurance — bounced back higher than banks and investment firms. Customer ratings for super-regional banks like PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Branch Banking and Trust (BB&T) improved significantly from last year. But some of the largest banks in the US, such as Chase and Citibank, still crowd the very bottom of the rankings. And almost all investment firms are in the bottom half of our rankings. For the second year in a row, these wealth management firms as a group get the worst customer advocacy ratings overall.