More than half of all Emiratis trust banks with their personal data

UAE is ranked seventh on global list of countries and cities that approve of their financial service providers

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  Warsaw. Poland was ranked first in a survey of countries and cities that trust banks, with 85 per cent of its citizens expressing confidence in how the financial sector handles their data, according to MoneyTransfers.com.

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  Jakarta. In second place is Indonesia, where seven in 10 respondents believe banks and financial service providers exercise diligent management of their data.

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  Frankfurt. In joint third position is Germany, where 68 per cent of citizens believe lenders are competent and ethical in how they manage personal data.

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  Mumbai. India is tied with Germany on the list of countries and cities that trust banks the most with their data.

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  Stockholm. In fourth place is Sweden, where 61 per cent have no issues with how their data is handled.

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  London. The UK is in fifth position, with 59 per cent expressing confidence in the financial sector's data-handling abilities.

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  Copenhagen, Denmark. The Nordic country was ranked sixth, with 57 per cent giving lenders their vote of confidence.

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  Dubai. The UAE took seventh position, with 56 per cent of Emiratis saying they trust banks and financial service providers with their personal data.

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  Sydney. Australia is tied with the UAE on the list of countries and cities that trust financial services providers the most.

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  Beijing. About 53 per cent of Chinese trust banks and other financial institutions to handle their data safely, earning the Asian country eighth position.

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  Singapore was ranked ninth in the survey, with 52 per cent endorsing how banks handle personal data.

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  Hong Kong. The Chinese city is 10th, with half of its residents saying they have complete faith in how their data is handled by banks.

More than half, or 56 per cent, of Emiratis trust banks and financial service providers with their personal data, a new survey revealed on Monday.

Emiratis have more confidence in lenders than customers in big economies such as the US, France and Spain, placing seventh overall in a poll of 17 countries and cities by MoneyTransfers.com, based on YouGov data.

Poland took top spot in the survey, with 85 per cent of its citizens expressing confidence in how the financial sector handles their data, followed by Indonesia where seven in 10 people gave their approval.

Germany and India were tied in third place, with 68 per cent of citizens happy that their data was being handled competently and ethically, according to the survey of 2,251 people aged 18 and above.

A separate survey in May by market research consultancy Insight Discovery found that 20 per cent of UAE residents perceive credit card companies as having the second worst reputation after recruiters.

However, the reputation of credit card companies has improved over the past 12 months, with a fifth of those polled perceiving them in bad light, compared with 23 per cent in 2020.

Meanwhile, French citizens are the most sceptical of their banks, with only 37 per cent having faith that financial service providers will manage their personal data properly, the MoneyTransfers.com survey found.

Italy was ranked just above France in 14th place, with only 38 per cent of Italians confident about how financial service providers use their data.

Countries that trust banks and financial service providers the most

Sweden (61 per cent) and the UK (59 per cent) rounded off the top five while Denmark (57 per cent) was sixth and the UAE was tied with Australia in seventh position.

China (53 per cent), Singapore (52 per cent) and Hong Kong (50 per cent) made up the top 10 countries where consumers trust how financial data is handled.

A separate study by the CFA Institute last year found that six in 10 UAE investors trust the investment management industry, compared with four in 10 globally. However, high fees were quoted as the main impediment to working with an advisory company.