IBM: Trust in Insurers Remains Low

Only 39% of the consumers included in a 20-country survey sample say they trust the insurance industry.

The IBM Institute for Business Value, an affiliate of International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has published that finding in a summary of results from a recent online survey of 21,740 consumers from 20 countries. In most cases, the IBM Institute and an institute that helped it with the research gathered 800 responses per country.

The percentage of survey participants is the same as in 2008 and 2009 but down from 42% in 2007, the institute says.

Customers with low trust in the insurance industry are about 20% more likely than others to switch providers, the institute says.