It is three years since the Dodd-Frank Act was implemented in July 2010 to help regulate and improve transparency in the US financial markets after the banking crisis of 2008. Still, 68 per cent of financial services firms now consider their industry riskier or just as risky as it was in 2007, the 2013 Makovsky Wall Street Reputation Study found.

The study revealed that reputation and customer satisfaction issues are still looming from the financial crisis and have caused financial services companies to lose an average of 9 per cent in business over the past year.

Furthermore, 66 per cent of financial services executives said that an increase in action and tougher stances by regulators have made it harder for the entire industry to rebuild reputation, and will lead to a longer road to recovery for the industry.

Similarly, 70 per cent of financial services companies are concerned about an increase of consumer complaints about their company in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s database. This is especially relevant in light of Dodd-Frank's intended improvements to consumer protection and transparency in the industry.

In order to identify the biggest threats to current financial services, the study was conducted among communications and marketing executives, as well as mid-sized US financial services companies in May 2013. Maskovsky hopes that the study will help identify which government programs and regulation help improve the reputation of the financial services industry, and which have had a damaging effect.