Small and mid-sized business owners say they prefer doing business with well-known financial brands,according to a new survey from American City Business Journals.

One of the most coveted demographics in wealth management, small and mid-sized business owners, say they prefer to do business with large, well-known companies, according to a survey released by Portfolio.com and American City Business Journals.

“This group is showing a clear return to trusted brands, with more than 77 per cent saying they look to buy from well-known brands in down times,” said Godfrey Phillips, American City’s vice president for research.

According to the study, the top 10 most trusted financial services brands among small and mid-sized business owners are: TDAmeritrade, The Vanguard Group, E*Trade, Charles Schwab, NASDAQ, Fidelity, Principle Financial Group, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley and Raymond James.

The top 10 bank brands for the group are: US Bank, BB&T, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Chase, Key Bank, Sun Trust, Capital One, Northern Trust and Royal Bank of Canada.

The biggest gainers in the rankings compared to 2009 results were TDAmeritrade (up 67 points from last year’s ranking), US Bank (up 46 points), and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (up 45 points).

Principal Financial Group, Key Bank, E*Trade, and Morgan Stanley also showed significant gains.

But the news wasn’t all good for big brands.

Fewer business owners are sourcing their financial advice from traditional full-service brokerage companies, Phillips said.

What’s more, “perceptions of banks are lagging that of other financial-services companies,” he added.

Overall, small and mid-sized business owners represent a $605 billion market for the financial services industry, Phillips said, “with those having a portfolio of more than $250,000 planning to invest more than $60,000 this year.”

The annual study was conducted with 1,762 business owners, chief executives and presidents of companies with more than one employee.