The UK's trust in banks, financial services and media continues to decline, with those three industries ranked as the least-trusted in the country by the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer.

While trust in business and government  institutions has remained stable, the steadily declining trust in industry - trust levels in banks have fallen by 30% in three years - is a worrying indicator for the UK economy, which has relied heavily on banking, media and financial services in recent years.

The 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer also ranks the UK second from bottom amongst countries surveyed, including Russia, the U.S. and Ireland, on a composite insitutional score based on the average of a country's trust in business, government, NGOs and media.

Trust in a company ranks at the top of ten factors determining corporate reputation in the UK, and second worldwide. Distrust of a company means that over half its audience will believe negative information about it having heard it just once or twice, with only 15% believing positive information having heard it the same number of times.

The survey also found that it's important to over 75% of stakeholders that business create shareholder value whilst aligned with society's interests - and in the UK and Ireland, 82% say that government must regulate corporate activity to ensure business is behaving responsibly. The president and CEO of Edelman, Richard Edelman, comments that "although trust in business has stabilised globally, it is conditional and premised on what a company does and how it communicates. Business is not trusted to act alone."

The UK remains in the top five most-trusted headquarter companies for global companies, whilst globally, trust in BRIC-headquartered companies has risen, particularly in similar emerging economies.