The financial services sector isn’t doing so well in the court of public opinion.
Financial services companies have seen the most negative change in public sentiment, according to a recent SurveyMonkey poll that asked 19,860 American adults about the top 75 Fortune 500 companies. Among the businesses that have lost ground in public opinion are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Prudential Financial.
Although 2017 was a relatively calm and scandal-light year for banks that have been under heavy scrutiny since the financial crisis, public sentiment has not grown more positive. More specifically, the “golden child” of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo, inflicted some pretty serious damage on its brand.
After losing consumer confidence for creating 2.1 million fake accounts a year earlier, Wells Fargo admitted in 2017 that an additional 1.7 million fake accounts had been made. The bank also admitted that it had charged as many as 570,000 consumers for unneeded auto insurance.
The three other companies that lost ground in public opinion over the last year include American Airlines, Pfizer, and Walmart. Walmart came out on top of the Fortune 500 list for the sixth year in a row—yet it ranks at the bottom of SurveyMonkey’s public perception list. What gives?
The retail giant has struggled to clean up its image following lawsuits surrounding treatment of pregnant workers, a bribery investigation in its overseas operations, and efforts to prevent labor unions from organizing its U.S. stores.
Meanwhile, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet have maintained their spot in the top 10 companies we admire most.
To learn more about SurveyMonkey’s methodology, click here.
