Despite the recent turmoil in the banking world with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, Dutch confidence in financial institutions has proven stable. Just over half in a survey by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) say they trust these institutions a lot or very much. The rest have less or no confidence at all.

This time, the annual DNB survey coincided with the turmoil in the banking sector in March. More than 2,200 households were surveyed. Three-quarters of them were confident that their bank would be able to repay the money entrusted to them at all times. For all Dutch banks, this percentage is 68 percent, just like for insurance companies. 62% trust pension funds.

Problems in the banking sector affected the results. Respondents who completed the survey before the announcement of UBS’ acquisition of Credit Suisse were more positive than those who answered afterward.

Confidence in the central bank itself is at the same level as last year. This offset a decrease in the fall. The DNB indicates that this decline coincided with the peak of inflation. Confidence in national politics has declined since last year. 22 percent trust politics, compared to 29 percent at the beginning of last year.