At a time when the banking sector in the going through a topsy-turvy phase, the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018 on Wednesday said the State Bank of India was the most trusted bank (both public and private sector) in the country and ICICI Bank topped the chart among the private ones.
"This year, State Bank of India tops the chart of BFSI (Banking and Financial Services Institutions) super-category despite seeing a dip in its overall brand trust index rankings from 13th in 2017 to 21st this year," the report said.
It further said: "The leader among the private banks is ICICI Bank, rising nine ranks in overall ranking." In the overall ranking comparing brands from across sectors, ICICI Bank ranked 38th in 2018.
The report, however clarified, the survey was carried out during November-January and did not take into account the recent reports of irregularities involving the ICICI Bank.
It further observed that 51 brands from the BFSI sector got listed among the 1,000 most trusted brands in the country this year, compared to 23 brands listed in 2017.
"The 19 new brands entering the list show that the general trust in the BFSI sector is rising," the report said.
The public sector major Punjab National Bank, which in February witnessed a multi-crore fraud, ranks sixth among the public sector banks (PSB) and is 297th in the overall ranking, according to the survey.
Given the fact that the survey was done during November-January 2017-18, it did not take into account people's opinion after the scam.
The fraud might be a factor in the next year's report for PNB. However, people do not really blame the bank for that, rather the accused individuals are the ones largely blamed, said N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA.