On 25 May 2015, whilst presenting his annual report at the Parliament of Georgia, the President of the National Bank of Georgia, Giorgi Kadagidze, stated that according to the study of the American global management research company, Gallup, the trust rate of depositors in the banking system in Georgia is one of the highest in Europe and, in this component, the Georgian banking system holds the third place after Norway and Switzerland.
FactChecktook interest in the accuracy of Mr Kadagidze’s statement and analysed Gallup’s data.
Gallup was founded in 1935 and studiesthe opinions of the population about different social issues.
Surveys about global topics in various countries of the world are conducted by random selection using personal or telephone conversations. Up to 1,000 people over the age of 15 were surveyed in the process of the study. Final results are formed based upon the answers to specially prepared questions and the probability of error varies from 2% to 5%.
One of the main questions concerning the banking system looks like this: "Do you trust the banks or financial institutions in your country?" In his statement Giorgi Kadagidze speaks about the resultsbased upon the answers to this simple question.
According to the study conducted in 135 countries of the world in 2012, the average trust rate in the banks in European Union member states is 37%. Some of the lowest trust rates in banks were recorded in Spain, Ireland and Greece.
According to the 2013 dataof Gallup’s study published by prosperity.com (see the previous link, pg. 45), Georgia does indeed hold the third place in Europe by the trust rate in its banks and financial institutions. Norway was a leader in this component with 80% in 2013 whilst Malta holds the second place with 78.7%. The level of trust in banks in Georgia was 76.5% in 2013.
Table 1:
Trust Rate in Banks and Financial Institutions in Europe (2013 data)
| Country | Trust Rate |
| Norway | 80% |
| Malta | 78.7% |
| Georgia | 76.5% |
| Finland | 70.1% |
| Luxembourg | 69.3% |
| Albania | 69.2% |
| Macedonia (FYROM) | 63.5% |
| Estonia | 62.2% |
| Denmark | 58.3% |
| Belarus | 57.4% |
| Sweden | 56.9% |
| Poland | 55.8% |
| Czech Republic | 54.5% |
| Slovakia | 53.1% |
| Switzerland | 50.4% |
| Austria | 49% |
| Montenegro | 46% |
| Netherlands | 44.2% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 43.3% |
| Croatia | 42.7% |
| Moldova | 42% |
| Bulgaria | 40.5% |
| Portugal | 40.3% |
| Cyprus | 40.1% |
| Russia | 39.9% |
| Germany | 39.3% |
| Slovenia | 37.1% |
| Belgium | 37.1% |
| Latvia | 36% |
| Romania | 35.1% |
| France | 33.3% |
| Lithuania | 31.6% |
| Ukraine | 31.6% |
| Serbia | 31% |
| Hungary | 29% |
| UK | 27.7% |
| Italy | 20.6% |
| Spain | 18% |
| Iceland | 17% |
| Ireland | 16.2% |
| Greece | 14% |
Conclusion
According to the study conducted by Gallup in 2013, the trust of depositors in the banking system in their country is quite low in certain European countries. For example, in Greece it is 14%, Ireland – 16.2%, Iceland – 17% and Spain – 18%. The trust rate in banks and financial institutions in Georgia is 76.5%. With this data our country holds the third place in Europe after Norway (80%) and Malta (78.7%).
Hence, FactCheck concludes that Giorgi Kadagidze’s statement: Our banking system is one of the best in Europe by the trust rate of depositors, is TRUE.
Editor's note: The initial version of this article was published on 10 June 2015. Initially, FactCheck only managed to obtain Gallup’s 2012 study data according to which Georgia held the sixth place in Europe by the level of trust in banks and financial institutions. Hence, FactCheck rated Giorgi Kadagidze’s statement to be MOSTLY TRUE. After the publication of the article we were contacted by the National Bank of Georgia and given more specific sources of information; namely, the study’s newer 2013 data according to which Georgia does indeed hold the third place in Europe. We looked into the study indicated by the National Bank of Georgia, took into account the statistics provided therein and, hence, corrected the article, changing our verdict accordingly as well.
