THE tumultuous events of the global financial crisis have taken a toll on the reputations of financial industry giants such as Citibank and insurer AIA.

But the crisis has also allowed some local players, notably OCBC and its insurance arm Great Eastern Life, to improve their standing among consumers here.

These are some of the findings of a local survey and ranking of the most reputable consumer brands in Singapore.

Great Eastern's profile was greatly enhanced by a popular move to fully refund customers the cost of investment-linked insurance products which had lost much of their value.

Parent OCBC basked in the reflected glory, surging from fourth position last year to second in the retail bank category, while Citibank, last year's No. 2 bank, slumped to fifth place.

Still, DBS Bank seemed to be unaffected by the crisis. Despite negative publicity over the way it handled the ill-fated High Notes saga and the way it retrenched about 900 staff, DBS retained pole position as the most reputable retail bank.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times

yanghw@sph.com.sg