In Britain one notable side-effect of the global financial crisis has been the rise of disengaged investors who have lost trust in the financial services industry.

Work stemming from a major new customer service awards for personal finance magazine Moneywise and undertaken by CoreData has found many consumers unhappy with the financial services companies they use and large numbers were unwilling to name a group as offering good service.

Meanwhile another new study of financial intermediaries in the UK, who work directly with the public, believe the lack of trust in financial services has more than doubled and is now a very real challenge facing IFAs.

In terms of consumers directly, comments such as “all companies claim to have their customers at heart, yet they will screw them at the drop of a hat” are typical for individuals who see banks and other finance institutions as untrustworthy.

This is an understandable view; no-one really warned the public about the impending financial crisis and the threat to their savings.

Instead, after years of growth, UK consumers suddenly saw several previously solid banks wobble and either fall into government ownership or accept emergency help to survive.

Some think the erosion of trust has been going on for a long time and recent events have only accelerated it.

Imaginatively, one financial services marketing guru in the UK dates the loss of trust to 1st July 1916, or the first day of the Battle of the Somme in World War I, when thousands of British recruits were ordered over the top and straight towards enemy machine guns.

Whatever the causes, dealing with disenchanted investors is likely to be an important challenge for financial services providers in the future.

In the past, the disengaged segment may have been reluctant users of banks and the like; now they are more likely to go direct, particularly if they have the time and the resources to make this worthwhile.

Individuals are now increasingly using online services to invest directly at low cost, or to set up a self-invested personal pension and run it themselves.

So far, IFAs have built relationships with customers who want to work with them and many life and pension firms concentrate on IFAs, as they are the dominant distribution channel for pensions and investments.

But this is likely to change.

Providers are starting to realise the importance of this burgeoning direct and disenchanted market segment and enterprising IFAs could discover this group may want some advice, while retaining part of their independence.