For those of you who didn't sit in on Cohn & Wolfe's recent gathering to discuss the state of (dis)trust in financial institutions, I'll give you a quick rundown of their conclusions, which won't be any surprise to readers of my blogs.

In a nutshell:

Accept that trust has declined significantly and that consumers won't be pleased if you just go back to how it was before.

Actions speak louder than words, transparency, clarity, efficiency - change.

The customer is the centre of your focus. Remember them?

Simplicity. Make it easy to do and easy to understand.

In case you doubt it here are some statistics from a Feb 2009 Harris poll you might consider:

A new survey of American consumer attitudes to Wall Street by The Harris Poll of 1,010 adults surveyed between February 10 and 15, 2009, finds that 83% of adults thinks that bonuses paid by financial institutions, that lost money in 2008, should be returned and be paid to shareholders. 87% believe that "recent events have shown that Wall Street should be subject to tougher regulation."

78% of adults thinks "Wall Street firms should only pay bonuses when they are doing well and making good profits." Only 22% accept the argument that "in order to attract and retain top talent, these companies need to pay these large bonuses." 

Asked over the last 13 years, this year's results are the worst ever for Wall Street. For example:

• Those who think "most people on Wall Street would be willing to break the law if they believed that they could make a lot of money and get away with it" are up to 71%. The highest number previously was 64% in 1996
• Those who believe that "most successful people on Wall Street deserve to make the kind of money they earn" have fallen to 30%, compared to 40% last year. The lowest number previously was 36% in 2002
• Those who believe that "in general people on Wall Street are as honest and moral as other people" have fallen to 26% from 41% last year. The previous low was 35% in 2000, 2002 and 2003
• A 54% to 39% majority believes that Wall Street benefits the country more than it harms it. However, a year ago a much larger 73% to 23% majority believed this
• A 62% to 32% majority believes that Wall Street is absolutely essential because it provides the money business must have for investments. This is also lower, but not very much lower than the 71% to 25% majority who felt this way a year ago.
  

Bankers elsewhere probably fare no better.

The governments clearly have a mandate for change.

I think it's time for a big change. Banks should get back to what they do best. I don't think it includes internet security, mobile software and losing their customer's and shareholder's money. In those areas banks can only succeed in the latter.

Trust must be the very foundation upon which all relationships are built.