Only Congress Has a Worse Reputation Than Banks

In a recent poll by American Banker, financial institutions scored second to last in industry reputation. Who could possibly be worse? Congress. For banks, this is not good.

In many ways the financial industry let down the American public leading up to and through the financial crisis. Greed overwhelmed prudence and gave way to the systemic near-collapse we are all now familiar with. Things only got worse as the crisis progressed and then abated, with bad behavior becoming the expectation for banks, which now seem to be constantly on the defensive. 

In the video below, Motley Fool contributor Jay Jenkins discusses the survey's results and its implications for the largest U.S. banks like Wells Fargo (WFC 2.73%), Bank of America (BAC 1.53%), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.65%).