When it comes to customer satisfaction and reputation, it's hard for big banks to win. This has long been evident in the customer satisfaction research by Forrester. Large banks tend to fare poorly, and this year was no exception. Bank of America (BAC), Chase, Capital One, TD/Commerce, Fifth Third, Citibank (C) and HSBC brought up the rear. You can't really blame the terrible news cycle because they always bring up the rear. 

This is how the Forrester analysts explained it to the New York Times: "Part of it is that the banks are preoccupied with their bottom line. They are public institutions who are in business to make money for their shareholder (shareholder news) and inevitably, that shows to customers." The one exception here is Wells Fargo/ Wachovia (Wells Fargo news), whose ratings are more on par with regional banks, which have historically fared much better. Faring the best were credit unions (credit unions news), which are typically customers owned. 

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