Consumers lose faith in financial firms: survey

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers are more skeptical than ever that financial services companies have their best interests at heart, according to a survey released on Monday.

The survey of 5,000 consumers, conducted by Forrester Research Inc, ranks major financial service providers according to the perception of how important clients' financial interests are to a company.

It found A.G. Edwards, a brokerage unit of Wachovia Corp WB.N, and other troubled companies such as American International Group Inc (AIG.N) and National City Corp NCC.N, to be among the biggest losers of their customers' faith.

"The subprime mortgage crisis, sagging stock markets and falling rates of return on everything from savings accounts to real estate have left consumer feeling less confident," said Bill Doyle, a Forrester analyst.

Citibank CN.N ranked last in terms of consumer confidence, while other major financial institutions, including Bank of America (BAC.N), JP Morgan Chase (JPM.N) and TD Ameritrade (AMTD.O), also fared poorly in the past year.

The company enjoying the most confidence was USAA, which provides financial services to military families.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Richard Chang)

(phil.wahba@thomsonreuters.com; + 1 646 223 6128)