Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Among sectors that are not trusted, financial services sits above social media, but below fashion. Trust in financial services sank in 20 out of the 27 countries coverd in the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, down four points to 52% – and at the same time as businesses in general gained a percentage point to 59%. Even in China, where the sector enjoys a high degree of trust, it saw a 12-point decline to 63%.
Alongside China in those eight countries that trust financial services, Asia’s other two most populous countries, India (77%) and Indonesia (75%), are the most trusting, although they saw slight dips of three points...