The importance of reversing banks` reputation

In 2009, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the first edition of Trust Meltdown was presented which measures, through a survey addressed to leading international publications, the credibility of the banking sector. A dramatic situation emerged for banks: they were perceived to be worse than “tobacco”.

With unbridled arrogance, giants such as Goldman Sachs, Barclays and others reacted without any intent whatsoever to reverse this perception, stating that everything would be improving from 2010. As a result, the press spoke less of losses and more of negative practices and of the inability to understand the real needs of customers.

Obviously in the following years, the same arrogance and the same disaster ensued: in Reports 2 and 3, it was confirmed that the banks were insisting on an incorrect strategy and, in Report 5, it was implied that their reputation had deteriorated even lower than that of nuclear energy, a sector just devastated by the Fukushima disaster, in the aftermath of which several countries had even announced plans to change their energy policies. It is easy to envision the stir caused by the statement made by Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan): “No one died because of us”.

This sentence perfectly describes the fundamental error of banks at that time, namely, a radical inability to recognise their mistakes and the tendency to attack consumers instead of turning to self-criticism. In 2014, the first signs of improvement were recorded, albeit the reputation of banks was a disaster: in Report 6, the top ten banks in the world were deemed to be just below the Mafia, Al-Qaeda and Kim Jong-un. Even with these mild signs of improvement, it is apparent that the sector insisted on imparting neutral messages. In fact, investments were massively directed to sports sponsorships, the time-tested narcotic of choice to effectively sway public opinion.

Moreover, this latter table shows that the leading “hot topic” regarding banks was precisely their own sponsorships, which is obviously the only topic to score a neutral trend in “tone of voice”. This confirms that, once again, the banks did not want to address specific questions, ones that the public continued to ask in reference to their pensions or savings. In short, the banking sector did not intend to deal with topics such as educating the public, transparency of information and knowledge.

As a communicator with various experience in the field of crisis management, I had no idea that the reputation of banks was so shattered and although I could perceive it, as I believe everyone did, the severity of this total collapse of credibility, was not clear to me. It is obvious that this report strengthens my conviction that professional and well-structured work is vital to restore consensus, also because the banks have a key role in the development of society.

During 2015, the topic of financial inclusion is increasingly well known: the importance of involving the more than 2.5 billion people in the world still without any access to the most basic financial instruments and how this is directly attributable to their social inclusion. Consider, for example, bank remittances, the money that migrants send home through “money transfers” by paying outrageous commissions, sums that might remain in their pockets and in the area where they work. Or how useful digital payment tools may be to accelerate this inclusion.

I am more than convinced that leading citizens to pay by electronic money is a benefit to everyone, for the area where they work, and for society in general. However, it is also obvious that, if we do not work on the reputation of the banking system, people will be increasingly looking to find alternatives that often prove to be worse than the system itself. The financial and economic world linked to development of e-payments, has a duty to work together to find tools and products that can meet peoples smallest financial needs, through transparent communication and messages able to educate them in a credible manner.

About Geronimo Emili

Geronimo, after 5 years in the marketing of publishing industry, began working in corporate communication for several PR global agencies as consultant for Fineurop, IGM Waste Management, Canal Plus, Elsacom, Ideal Standard, Enel, Alitalia, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, ABM Merchant, Sony Playstation, MasterCard, Teleperformance, Mercedes, etc. In 2007 he was chief press officer at the World Energy Council, for the first global congress in Europe.

In 2010 he started developing communication projetcs for e-payment registering the “No Cash Day” format which started in summer 2011. He also created the blog NewMoney.it for all the news around the e-payments industry and, since 2013, he promotes #NoCashTrip, a totally cashless journey in Italy, supported by important media partnership. In 2013, Geronimo founded CashlessWay, the first italian association for e-payment culture, to represent the Italian industry in institutional and media tables.

About CashlessWay

CashlessWay is the Italian association to spread digital payments culture, to support and promote the use of cashless payment instruments and to increase e-payment potential awareness. CashlessWay is a real hub, a junction of interests, expertises and ideas, in which every aspect of digital payments can be studied and popularized: communication and promotion activities, surveys, polls, international meetings, seminars and publications. CashlessWay promote the yearly eVents No Cash Day and #NoCashTrip, the journey around Italy without use of cash.