BANKING REPUTATION DURING THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN. COMPARISON AMONG THE LEADING SPANISH FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FROM THE CUSTOMER?S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The level of banking reputation has been damaged since the beginning of the economic downturn in 2008, although it has not hit all institutions with equal severity. This study compares the reputation of the four main Spanish banks, from a highly specific corporate reputation model that measures, for the first time, the bank customer perceptions after the nationalization of Bankia and the Spanish request to the Eurogroup for a bailout of the distressed financial institutions The results of this research support the theory that an organization's reputation can vanish immediately before a negative fact directly associated with it.