LONDON — Credit unions are often cautioned that a wrong move or policy can have long-lasting effects, and a new study from Gallup shows just how long damage to a reputation can last: Nearly two decades after the 2008 global financial crisis, confidence in banks/financial institutions is finally back to where it once stood. In fact, it’s now even stronger than before the crisis in countries that experienced major financial-sector losses and economic decline, Gallup said.
The company said that in 2025, across 25 countries most affected by the crisis, a median of 63% expressed confidence in their financial institutions and banks, marking a new high.
“The recovery has taken time. Before the crisis took hold, confidence in banks in these countries stood at 57%,” Gallup said. “It fell sharply to 40% in 2009 after financial institutions collapsed, and it reached a record low of 37% in 2012 amid the eurozone crisis. Trust in banks rose gradually after that, reaching 56% in 2020, where it remained until rising notably last year.”
Large Financial Sectors
According to Gallup, the loss of confidence in banks after the global financial crisis was concentrated in countries with large financial sectors and substantial exposure to the crash. The 25 countries looked at for its report were those that experienced the largest financial-sector losses. Gallup said those losses are defined as declines in stock-market capitalization as a share of GDP between 2006 and 2009, as well as where GDP contracted after the crisis.
“By contrast, countries with smaller financial sectors and less exposure to the crisis did not experience the same loss of trust in their financial institutions,” Gallup said. “Confidence in banks in the rest of the world increased between 2008 and 2011. The recent rise among the 25 most affected countries means that, for the first time since the crisis, they are now as confident in their financial institutions as the rest of the world is.”
Banks Reclaim Status
According to Gallup, before the global economic crisis, banks were among the most trusted national institutions in these 25 countries, with only the military eliciting more confidence.
“That changed in 2009, when trust in banks sank to levels closer to those of the least trusted institution: the national government,” Gallup said. “For the next decade, banks and governments closely tracked each other at the bottom of the trust rankings. As confidence in financial institutions has gradually improved, so has banks’ standing among institutions. By 2025, they had reclaimed their former position among the more trusted national institutions such as electoral systems.”
The Trust Driver
Gallup said that after the crash, several countries introduced reforms and more regulation to their financial systems, including higher capital requirements and enhanced supervision. Among many that suffered most — such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal — these reforms often came with European Union financial conditions and requirements.
“However, across these 25 countries, the recovery in people’s trust could stem from broader economic positivity rather than regulatory reform alone,” it stated. “The rise in confidence in banks has closely matched improvements in how comfortable people feel living on their household income.”
Confidence by Country
Gallup said eight countries — Czech Republic, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Mexico — all recorded higher levels of trust in banks (by at least five percentage points) in 2025 than they did at their precrash peaks in 2006 or 2007. A further seven countries are within five points of — and therefore broadly in line with — their precrash levels, including some that took the biggest economic hits, like Ireland, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia.
In nine countries, however, levels of confidence remain at least five points lower in 2025 than before the crash. These include Belgium, Spain, Greece and the United States, all of which posted 2025 scores at least 14 points below their precrash peaks, Gallup added.
No Uniform Rebound
“Trust in financial systems did not collapse and rebuild in a uniform way. Ireland stands out for experiencing the world’s largest-ever single-year decline in trust in banks (-43 points between 2008 and 2009), and a global-low figure of 13% in 2011, which has since climbed 51 points to 64%,” Gallup stated. “This represents a significant turnaround for a country whose banking sector lost nearly 75% of its stock market value and whose economy contracted 9% after the crash.
Several countries — including the United Kingdom, United States, Portugal, Germany and Austria — have followed broadly similar trends in their recoveries in trust, whereas Greece, Hungary, Belgium and Spain all exhibit more unique trends. This shows how varied the recovery has been across the world and how the financial crash did not affect every country at the same time or in the same way.”
