Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are the only two global banks that have actually had their reputations enhanced by their handling of the credit crunch, says Greenwich Associates. But other firms that have sailed through relatively untouched may be able to benefit, too.

The research was carried out in February, before J.P. Morgan stepped in to bailout Bear Stearns. Greenwich asked nearly 300 large companies in Asia, Europe and the United States to evaluate how their bank’s handling of the current market turmoil has affected the bank’s reputation.

Greenwich reports that the research indicates that, on a global level, banks tend to fall into three categories: those whose reputations have been significantly weakened by the events of the past six months; those who have emerged relatively unscathed; and, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, the only firms whose reputations have actually been enhanced by their performance throughout the crisis .

“The one interesting outlier to this classification scheme is Société Générale. The significant decline in Société Générale’s reputation among companies around the world is attributable to the actions of a single ‘rogue trader,’ as opposed to its overall performance throughout the credit crisis,” says Greenwich consultant Robert Statius-Muller.

Greenwich also asked companies to indicate how the performance of individual banks during the crisis would affect the amount of future business they do with these organizations. “Companies’ responses to this question can be taken in one of two ways,” says Greenwich consultant Jay Bennett. “On the one hand, for some of the hardest-hit firms like Citigroup and UBS, the fact that 15-25% of their corporate clients expect to shift some of their business to other firms as a result of market events should be cause for serious concern. On the other hand, most companies who say these firms’ reputations have taken a hit are not yet planning to pull any of their business, which suggests that these organizations have an opportunity to restore their trust and preserve these relationships.”

Greenwich suggests that the results also suggest that the global crisis could represent an historic opportunity for those mid-sized or regional banks that have steered clear of credit-related write-downs and losses.

Companies in the U.S. say the events since August 2007 have enhanced the reputations of regional banks like Wells Fargo and foreign banks with relatively small U.S. franchises, such as Royal Bank of Scotland/ABN AMRO, and BNP Paribas.

European companies say the same about banks such as Nordea, ING and Santander, which are viewed largely as regional players.

In Asia, between 10% and 20% of companies say that, as a result of the current market turmoil, they plan to increase the amount of business they do with regional banks such as the Bank of China, ICBC and Calyon.