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Consumer rankings of financial institutions 6/23 Businesswire Fewer consumers think their financial providers have their best interests at heart, according to Forrester’s 5th annual customer advocacy scorecard. Based on a survey of 5,000 US consumers, the rankings evaluated 41 leading US banks, brokerages & insurers. This year, consumers’ ratings of financial institutions are down across the board, falling to their lowest levels since Forrester began surveying customer advocacy 5 years ago. Forrester attributes this year’s drop in ratings to a broad decline in consumer confidence due to events like the subprime mortgage crisis. Customer advocacy is the perception on the part of customers that the firm does what’s best for them, not just the firm’s own bottom line. Customer advocacy drives real loyalty - a willingness to buy, borrow, save & invest more with a firm that a consumer uses. ‘The subprime mortgage crisis, sagging stock markets, & falling rates of return on everything from savings accounts to real estate have left consumers feeling less confident about their financial positions & about the firms they use,’ said Bill Doyle, Forrester. ‘Financial companies need to raise the bar on the customer experiences they provide in order to weather this storm & keep customers loyal.’ Although consumer ratings fell for nearly all firms this year, the relative ranking of many firms stayed the same. USAA retains top spot. USAA customers continue to give their firm the highest ratings, just as they have for each of the past 4 years. Other customer-owned organizations continue to score well, including credit unions & Vanguard. Property & casualty insurers continue strong showing. Of the top 10 organizations, five are property & casualty companies. Another one of the top 10 is ‘independent insurance agents.’ AG Edwards fell farthest among brokerages. Last year AG Edwards was absorbed by Wachovia Securities. Investors who identified themselves as AG Edwards customers rated the firm lower than Wachovia customers rated their firm. It was the first time in years that AG Edwards ranked lower than Wachovia. AIG & New York Life Insurance dropped the most among life insurers. Life insurers fared worse than property & casualty insurers as sluggish stock markets hurt equity-based policies like annuities. National City tumbled. Only 31% of National City’s customers rated the bank high on customer advocacy, compared with 40% last year. In the second half of last year, National City emerged as one of the nation’s biggest subprime lenders.