The Australian Bankers Association 16 month old public relations effort, its "Banking Reform Program", may be making an imprint among the mass market.Three hot priorities for consumers in a recent study were "removing individuals from the industry for poor conduct", "strengthening the commitment to customers in the Code of Banking Practice" and "the highest standards of whistleblower protection in banks."Drawing on work by Edelman Intelligence research, the ABA and its members may infer that the industry is succeeding at talking to more than just itself, regulators and government.Landing in the news cycle on the day APRA announced an inquiry panel into the country's biggest and most controversial bank, key findings may end up being overlooked.Asked about Australians' "trust in the financial services sector compared with other institutions (NGOs, Government, business and media)", Edelman found its respondents turned the dial favourably.Edelman found 50 per cent ticked the box at the trusted end of the scale when asked for a view on "how much you trust that institution to do what is right" using a nine-point scale. This two percentage points increase compared with 2016 "indicates that trust in the financial services sector has moved from negative to neutral, and sits above trust in business, media and government," the ABA said in its summary of the research.The more specific question on trust in banking yields a mixed finding."How much do you trust the banking industry to do what is right?" was the wording. Edelman reported a "low trust" answer from 27 per cent, a "neutral trust" from 43 per cent and "high trust" from 31 per cent.One subset of banking industry consumers with views at the "low trust" end is the Finance Sector Union.Putting the partisan view, FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano restated that union members "report concerns about culture and governance issues across the industry."Despite the industry's desire to bridge the trust gap by conducting endless reviews and inquiries, there is now less trust and confidence in banks than there was a year ago," she said.Labelled as an "Initial Benchmarking Report - Consumer Study", this ABA document will be used to "measure progress" on the six point reform program "as these initiatives are adopted by banks."Edelman survey 1000 Australians online and recruited 12 focus groups between May and June 2017.Consumers involved in the study turn out to be knowledgeable, maybe surprisingly so, as "51 per cent of consumers surveyed have some level of awareness of the Banking Reform Program, with seven per cent being very familiar with the details."Findings fit for PR flow from that."When asked whether they agree or disagree with the following statement 'The Banking Reform Program makes me optimistic about the future of banking', 51 per cent agreed. Half also agreed with the statement that the Banking Reform Program "will make the relationship between banks and customers better."