RJ and Makay

The sixth annual release of Millward Brown’s 2011 top 100 worldwide brands provides insights into worldwide financial institution and insurance company brand rankings. Banks excelled at utilizing digital channels for transactional needs such as online banking, but lagged in brand-building social media applications.

Investment banks struggled with post-crisis reputation and trustworthy issues. While customers continued to engage with small local banks for checking and other transactional services, they generally kept their savings in large institutions viewed as “too big to fail.”

Most U.S. financial institutions expect their consumer lending businesses to grow or at least remain steady in 2011, a survey of more than 1,000 banking professionals shows. However, a soft economy and new regulations could hinder the lending business, say these professionals, who were polled in January by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

Of the survey respondents, 79% said their institution’s consumer loan volume would rise or stay the same this year. Only 5% predicted a decline and 16% weren’t sure. Institutions with more than $250 million in assets were most likely to anticipate increased loan volume. Respondents cited the following factors as potential hindrances to consumer lending in 2011: a soft economy (30%), stricter compliance regulations (24%), reduced loan demand (18%), and increased competition (17%).

The percentage of Americans who trust the U.S. financial system has climbed from the lows of the financial crisis and recession, rising recently to 26% from 20% about a year ago. However, that obviously still leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Trust in the financial system is measured with the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index, which is calculated quarterly by University of Chicago and Northwestern University researchers using the results of a representative survey of about 1,000 Americans. The survey is designed to gauge respondents' trust in the institutions "in which they can invest their money." The latest survey covered the fourth quarter and likely revealed an uptick in the trust index related to improvement in the economy, stock markets, and employment outlook.