When Is A 33% Confidence Rating A Good Thing?

Gallup recently released a summary of Americans' confidence in banks. While overall confidence in banks has fallen to 18%, on a more positive note, many Americans have confidence in their primary bank where they conduct most of their banking business, with 33% saying they have "Quite a lot" of confidence in their primary bank.

It's pretty abysmal when the majority of banks have a confidence rating that is lower than the final approval rating of George W. Bush (who had the lowest approval rating in history of any politician who was not indicted for something).  While 33% have expressed "Quite a lot" of confidence in their primary bank, it's the other 67% that should be keeping us up at night.

The greatest casualty in this whole financial debacle has been the loss of trust in financial institutions.  Now, more than ever, banks need to step up their efforts to project a message of safety, soundness and stability.  One of the keys is through financial education, which a lot of banks do not do well.  People are scared--how to pay their mortgage, send their kids to college, and have enough for retirement--and they are being overly protective of their precious few resources.  Banks need to do a much better job of outreach to retail and business customers in an advisory capacity to outline financial options that are in the best interest of the customers.  

This seems to be the ideal path to regaining consumer and business trust one institution at a time that will inevitably begin to raise the status of the financial industry as a whole.