Scandal plagued Barclays has received the dubious honour of being named Britain’s least trusted brand by consumer watchdog Which?
The organisation found that the banking giant, whose name has been sullied in recent months by an admission its illegal manipulation of interest rates, topped a poll of 2,000 individuals.
Each was put on the spot and asked to rattle off the name of three brands which they distrusted, with Barclays tripping off the tongue of most with an unlucky 13% of those asked pointing the finger at them.
Barclays has suffered the resignation of three of its top executives recently; including its chief executive Bob Diamond, chairman Marcus Agius and chief operating officer Jerry del Missier.
Ubiquitous supermarket chain Tesco, Burger chain McDonald’s, price hike prone British Gas and Leveson troubling Sky rounded off the bottom five.
In a statement Which? said: “Perhaps unsurprisingly, given recent scandals such as PPI mis-selling and the rigging of the Libor rate, the survey showed consumers are most likely to distrust financial brands.”
On the flipside of the coin High Street staple M&S was named Britain’s most trusted brand.
LEAST TRUSTED BRANDS
Barclays 13%
Tesco 12%
McDonald's 9%
British Gas 8%
Sky 6%
MOST TRUSTED BRANDS
Marks & Spencer 14%
Apple 11%
Heinz 10%
Sony 9%
Virgin 7%