The firm’s media sentiment indicator – one of several benchmarks which constitute the Thomson Reuters Trust Index – rose strongly for Europe during the second quarter of 2013. Thomson Reuters attributes the shift in part to positive sentiment on the planned re-privatisation of The Royal Bank Of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group in the UK.
In contrast, trust in both US and Asian financial institutions declined slightly in Q2. Thomson Reuters blamed a combination of worries regarding the health of China’s shadow banking system and fears of a liquidity squeeze in the country, for the falling confidence in Asian financials.
“Trust does not exist in a vacuum – the rise of Europe and declines in the Americas and Asia this quarter, while modest, show that it is highly influenced by macro-economic developments, central bank policies, market conditions and regulatory climate,” wrote David Craig, financial and risk president at Thomson Reuters.
“While trust momentum overall was generally stable to positive, its sensitivity to these externals makes evident how critical the health and stability of these institutions are to our global financial ecosystem.”
A PDF of the Thomson Reuters Trust Index report can be downloaded from the firm’s website, here.
