'Trust' May Become The Key Word For Search Marketers, Especially Financial Ones

Trust may become more than a buzzword for most paid-search ads and organic search campaigns -- especially when it comes to financial institutions.

Gen Z is the least trusting of traditional financial institutions -- with 17% saying their money is not safe in a bank, compared with 10% of Gen Y, 8% of Gen X, and 3% of Baby Boomers, according to recent data.

The recent collapse of Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic Bank may be leading to a decline in trust. Some 52% of those who don’t believe their money is safe say their views on the matter have changed in the last 12 months.

The consumer confidence index from Finder -- a fintech company that helps people make better financial decisions -- shows that people who get financial advice from social media were the most likely to distrust banks at 14%.

Just 6% of those who got their advice from a traditional adviser said the same.

Those who said they got their financial advice from traditional media are most likely to say their money is safe, at 83%.

The survey asked how much of their money was protected when a bank failed -- which is set at $250,000 per account by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Some 65% said they did know.

Those who said they didn’t know how much of their money was protected were more than twice as likely to believe their funds were not safe -- at 15% compared with 6%.

Young Americans are far more distrustful of banks than their elders, with just 61% of Gen Z saying their money is safe in their bank compared with 84% of baby boomers. Almost 1 in 5 Gen Zers say they don’t believe their money is safe compared with just 3% of boomers.

Those living in the South and West are the most distrustful, with 11% saying they don’t think their money is safe. The 11% who say they earn less than $100,000 annually are almost twice as likely to say they don’t trust their money will be safe than the 6% who earn more than $100,000

Some 78% of men trust that their money is safe with their bank, compared with 70% of women. Of those who don’t believe their money is safe in banks, men lead at 10%, compared to women at 8%.

Of the women who said their money was safe, just 23% also said they had changed their view on the matter in the last 12 months, and 51% said they don’t trust their money is safe.

During the past 12 months, women are less likely to have changed their opinion on whether their money is safe, with less than 29% changing their minds compared with 42% of men. 

It’s a similar story with men, with 40% of those who trust their money is safe saying they have changed their opinion in the last 12 months, compared to 51% who don’t think their money is safe.

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