“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 , US Bank , and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney .

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.