Ownership and Trust in Banks: Evidence from the First Bank in an American Indian Nation

Abstract

In collaboration with an American Indian nation, we conducted a survey that is the first of its kind in Indian Country. The survey explored tribal members' financial experiences in the months before the first bank opened on their reservation. In this article, we connect respondents' reported ex ante trust in banks to their support for the new bank. Descriptively, respondents are highly supportive of the new bank whatever their ex ante trust in banks, but the relationship is nonlinear. Native ownership seems to be particularly silent to those in the middle or low end of the trust distribution.