German discount supermarket chain Aldi is cementing its spot as Australia’s most trusted brand – beating home-grown favourites such as the ABC and Qantas for the second time in a row.

The latest Roy Morgan Net Trust Score Survey, conducted in July, put Aldi on top, followed by Bunnings, the national carrier and then the national broadcaster.

In a statement, Roy Morgan said retail was the most trusted industry sector. Banking was the most distrusted – reflecting the ongoing fallout from the financial industry royal commission.

“The banks were already deeply distrusted, so any material impact on their market value is up and down,” Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said.

She said financial services company AMP – which had an especially bruising encounter at the royal commission earlier in 2018 – provided a good insight into how distrust could affect brand value and sustainable growth.

“AMP has never before been so distrusted … Seventeen years ago, AMP shares were worth more than $14. Today they’re worth less than $3.50,” she said. “That’s a drop of 72 per cent.”

“AMP’s skyrocketing level of distrust has cost the household brand billions of dollars. According to financial analysts, more than $4 billion has been wiped off the company’s value as a direct consequence of revelations during the royal commission.”

The news is not as good for AMP, which has taken a big hit from the banking royal commission. Photo: Getty

In fact, Bendigo Bank is the only bank brand to defy the fallout from the royal commission. It remained in the top 10 brands with a positive Net Trust Score (NTS) across the five surveys to date.

The first two benchmark surveys were carried out in October 2017 and January 2018, the third in February and the fourth in April.

Each time, Roy Morgan has asked 10,000 Australians to nominate the brands they trust most and least. The NTS is calculated by subtracting a nominated brand’s distrust score from its trust score.

Comparing the July results with April’s, Qantas has improved one place from fourth, and the ABC jumped three places from seventh.

By contrast, the big four banks have found spots in the “top 10 most distrusted list”.

Ms Levine said Facebook was another example of how skyrocketing distrust had a material effect on brand value.

“After all the accusations of fake news, international political interference, and the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, users, employees and advertisers jumped ship,” she said.

“Facebook’s distrust score catapulted it into the No.1 ranking on the Roy Morgan top 10 most distrusted media brands, and into the top 10 most distrusted brands in Australia.

“Facebook’s earnings dropped and its share price plummeted, wiping $US145 billion ($A198 billion) off its market value.”

By contrast, the ABC was the country’s most trusted media brand, with SBS the most trusted commercial brand.

HCF is the most trusted private health insurer and netball the most trusted sport.