Croatia Among Countries with the Highest Growth in Trust in Banks

Almost two decades after the global financial crisis of 2008, trust in banks has fully recovered, and Croatia is among the countries that recorded the highest growth, as shown by the results of a large Gallup survey conducted in 2025 in about 140 countries worldwide.

Croatia is in a group of only eight countries, alongside the Czech Republic, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Germany, Italy, and Mexico, which recorded higher levels of trust in banks in 2025 than at the peak before the crisis in 2006 or 2007. Specifically, this is a growth of at least five percentage points compared to pre-crisis levels.

Record Trust

In 25 countries that were hardest hit by the crisis, 63 percent of respondents expressed trust in financial institutions and banks, which is a new record. Before the crisis, trust was at 57 percent, and banks were among the institutions that enjoyed the highest public trust, right after the military.

After the collapse of financial institutions in 2009, trust in banks fell to 40 percent, alongside national governments, reaching a record low of just 37 percent in 2012 during the subsequent recession.

In the following decade, banks and governments were almost neck and neck at the bottom of the trust rankings, but by 2025, banks had regained their place among the institutions that enjoy greater public trust.

Slow Recovery

The example of Ireland stands out, which experienced the largest one-year drop in trust in banks ever recorded globally – a staggering 43 percentage points between 2008 and 2009. In 2011, trust in Irish banks reached a global minimum of just 13 percent. However, since then, a recovery has followed, with trust rising to 64 percent in 2025.

This is a significant turnaround for a country whose banking sector lost nearly 75 percent of its value on the stock market, and whose economy shrank by nine percent after the crisis, according to the Gallup report.

However, the recovery has not been uniform. Of the 25 analyzed countries, nine still record trust levels that are at least five percentage points lower than before the crisis.

Among them, Belgium, Spain, Greece, and the United States stand out, whose results in 2025 are still at least 14 points lower than pre-crisis peaks. In the U.S., for example, only about 62 percent of respondents expressed trust in banks, which is a significant drop compared to 76 percent who trusted banks just before the recession.

On the other hand, another seven countries, including Ireland, Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia, which were significantly affected by the crisis, have approached their pre-crisis levels, indicating that trust in banks in those countries has nearly recovered.

Trust as the Foundation of the Financial System

After the crisis, many countries implemented stricter regulations of financial systems, and among the countries hardest hit, such as Ireland, Greece, and Portugal, these reforms came simultaneously with conditions and requirements from the European Union. However, as Gallup notes, the recovery of trust does not necessarily have to be solely the result of regulatory reforms.

Trust in banks has grown in parallel with the rise of economic optimism, or the feeling of financial security and stability, which instills courage in citizens for long-term investments and consumption. Gallup also emphasizes that public trust in financial institutions is positively correlated with GDP growth, especially in low and lower-middle-income countries.

Trust is, in fact, the foundation of the financial system, as without it, the withdrawal of deposits can cause broader financial instability. However, it remains to be seen whether banks will be able to maintain these levels of trust when the global financial system faces the next major crisis.