By Jane Wundersitz, founder of WunderTraining and Australia’s only VIA Character Strengths Master Trainer. Part of the WunderTraining research series analysing 6,296 Australian VIA Character Strengths profiles.
Ask Australians which industry they trust least and the answer rarely varies. Banking and finance have sat near the bottom of public trust surveys for years, and a royal commission did nothing to soften the stereotype.
So here is a finding I did not expect. In my database of 6,296 Australian VIA Character Strengths profiles, the sector where Honesty is most central to how people see themselves is financial services.
Across the full database, Honesty is Australia’s most common signature strength: 67% of people rank it in their personal top five. In financial services, that figure rises to 77%. It is the highest of any sector I measure, ahead of law enforcement (74%), utilities and engineering (71%), and well clear of the national norm.
A signature strength, in VIA terms, is one of the five strengths a person ranks highest within themselves out of 24. So this is not a claim about behaviour or compliance. It is something more interesting: in the industry Australians say they trust least, more than three in four workers put honesty at the core of their identity.
A fair question for any finding from a modest sample (105 people across four organisations: a member-owned credit union, a claims and return-to-work firm, a private investment group and an asset manager). So I tested each organisation separately.
Three of the four organisations independently sit at 77% to 83%, with the fourth at the national average. When separate cohorts, measured in different years, point the same way, the pattern deserves to be taken seriously. The sample is still modest, and I hold the exact number lightly, but the direction is consistent.
The same profiles carry a second surprise. Financial services people also rank high on Fairness (54%) and Humor (43%). But two strengths almost vanish:
Put together, the picture is vivid. The character identity of Australian financial services is honest, fair and funny, and at the same time low on vitality and low on appetite for learning. An industry built on trust attracts and shapes people who define themselves by integrity. It does not seem to be feeding their energy or their curiosity.
Three practical implications stand out to me after a decade of working with teams:
1. Stop training integrity into people who already own it. Compliance matters, but character-wise you are preaching to the most converted workforce in the country. Recognition lands better than reminder: name the honesty that is already there and connect it to purpose.
2. Take the zero seriously. Zest is rare everywhere in Australia (3% nationally), but a flat zero across a cohort says something about how the work is experienced. Energy will not come from demanding it. It comes from strengths-based role design, genuine autonomy and teams that know what each person naturally brings.
3. Rebuild the learning appetite. The lowest Love of Learning in the country is a risk signal for a sector facing constant regulatory and technological change. The lever is not more mandatory modules. It is making development feel like discovery again.
Financial services gets publicly doubted on integrity more than any other Australian industry. Yet honesty is more central to its people’s identity than anywhere else in the country. The gap between reputation and character might be the most underused asset the sector has.
This analysis draws on 6,296 unique adult profiles completed on the current VIA survey (VIA-IS-P) through WunderTraining programs in Australian organisations between approximately 2019 and July 2026, spanning nine sectors. The financial services group comprises 105 profiles across four organisations; percentages are within-group, and smaller sectors carry a margin of error of roughly plus or minus 8 points. Read the full national findings in The Character of the Australian Workforce, or visit the WunderTraining Research Hub.
Jane Wundersitz is the founder of WunderTraining, Australia’s only VIA Character Strengths Master Trainer, and a 2026 Real Leaders Top Impact Speaker. She has delivered leadership and team development to more than 60,000 people across Australia. Her forthcoming book on culture, connection and character strengths draws on this research. For keynotes, workshops or media enquiries, contact WunderTraining.
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Jane Wundersitz
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