Following recent collapses, Americans' trust in banking industry sharply declines: poll

The public’s trust in the banking industry sharply dropped in the aftermath of the collapse of two prominent banks earlier this month and their effects on the market, according to a new poll. 

A poll released Wednesday from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago found only 10 percent of respondents said they have a “great deal” of confidence in banking and financial institutions. That’s down from the 22 percent who said they did in a 2020 poll. 

Almost 60 percent of respondents said in the recent poll that they had “only some” confidence in banking, while 30 percent said they had “hardly any.” 

In a breakdown of responses from various industries included in the survey, only Congress had a lower percentage say they have a great deal of confidence in the institution. 

The lack of trust in banking was bipartisan, as only 10 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of Republicans said they have a great deal of confidence. 

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed earlier this month after it did not have enough cash on hand to fulfill withdrawal requests and needed to sell assets, leading to a bank run. Signature Bank, which focuses on cryptocurrency, also crashed a few days later. 

The federal government stepped in to protect all deposits from customers even if an account surpasses the $250,000 limit that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protects to try to calm customers and the market. 

The country’s largest banks also bailed out First Republic Bank, which is based in San Francisco, to the tune of $30 billion as many of its depositors moved their money to larger institutions. 

Pollsters also found bipartisan agreement that government regulation of financial institutions is inadequate. Just more than half of Republicans said so, and 63 percent of Democrats agreed. 

Only 15 percent of all respondents said government regulation is too much, while 27 percent said regulation is about the right amount. 

Silicon Valley and Signature banks have received backlash since their crashes as they were some of the top proponents pushing for loosening regulations that were designed to prevent a financial crisis like the Great Recession. 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed on Wednesday that the banking system remains “sound” despite the recent chaos. 

The poll was conducted from March 16 to 20 among 1,081 adults. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.