Banks and building societies are to blame for the economic turmoil, with the finger of public opinion being pointed at the biggest players, in particular.

An exclusive survey carried out by Populus for The Times shows that more than eight out of ten people surveyed think that most or all banks and building societies were involved in creating the credit crisis.

Banks have suffered a storm of negative publicity in recent months after going to the market for billions of pounds of extra capital and slashing the value of assets by billions of pounds.

Everyone from Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, to the man in the street has blamed the banks for causing the economic slowdown through greed and giving credit too easily.

Almost one in five people surveyed by Populus for The Times believes that Lloyds TSB, for example, bears responsibility for the recent financial turmoil, even though it has come out of the crisis relatively unscathed.

Barclays, however, is seen as the biggest villain of the piece. The bank, which has had to write off £1.7billion and whose Firstplus subsidiary has been closed to new business, is blamed for the crisis by 24 per cent of respondents. The reputations of Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS also suffered in the wake of the critical media coverage that both banks received over their rights issues. According to the figures, consumers' rating of both banks' general behaviour has fallen by 4 points since last year.

One of the biggest falls was suffered by First Direct. The bank, which claims that it is the country's most recommended bank, is likely to have been affected by its decision last September to stop paying its current account customers interest on their personal bank accounts. It became the first British bank to charge customers for holding a current account in November 2006.

The survey also revealed that the number of people with a bank account fell by 2 per cent from last year to 97 per cent, suggesting that some people may no longer trust banks with their money.

Populus conducts the survey annually for The Times and last year's figures were taken just before the credit crunch, affecting banks and financial institutions worldwide, hit in August.

Public opinion of ethical niche players such as the Co-operative Bank, which received the biggest increase in the number of people who had a good impression of its general behaviour, has stayed relatively high over the past year. The Co-operative tops the table overall - more than 13 points above its nearest rival, Nationwide, when looking at consumers' overall impressions of general behaviour.

Mutuals and ex-mutuals, although clearly more attractive than the banks for concerned consumers, have, nevertheless, suffered drops in reputation from last year. While people may regard the Co-operative as ethical, the number actually banking there has fallen, demonstrating that there are plenty of other factors influencing the choice of a bank, such as branch proximity - something that counts against the Co-operative.

A return to old-fashioned banking, which Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, called for last year, seems to be on the minds of the people surveyed.

The overwhelming majority - 77 per cent - believed that banks should address social issues, such as the effect of debt on society, before tackling concerns about the environment. The initiatives that consumers saw as most important were the provision of objective financial advice and applying ethical and environmental standards to the companies they invest in - both of which indicate the importance of responsible lending.

Outside the credit crisis, a clear majority of respondents (83 per cent) did not think that banks and building societies were doing enough to address social and environmental issues, although this has improved slightly since 2007. However, they also admitted that in times of economic uncertainty, they were less likely to buy the most ethically and environmentally friendly products available.

Only 11 per cent wanted their bank to give them a lower limit on their credit cards to reduce the risk of running up big debts, suggesting that consumers still hanker for easy credit.

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