Almost everyone loves to hate on Goldman Sachs, a.k.a the "Vampire Squid".
Goldman's image and that of its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, have been bruised by the criticism they have received over the bank's role in the financial crisis as well as the hefty compensation packages.
It's been a rough last three years.
However, we've noticed that Goldman and Blankfein have made quite a comeback in the last year in terms of boosting their public image.
Click to see Goldman's best moments >
While other big banks that have seen the whale trade, the LIBOR and money laundering scandals, Goldman has avoided all of that making them look much better by comparison.
At one point back in May, following the London Whale trading loss, JPMorgan's brand perception dipped making it the most negatively viewed bank on Wall Street -- a spot normally held by Goldman, according to YouGov BrandIndex.
Of course, we'll get a more accurate read in January on how Goldman's brand perception did in 2012 when YouGov releases that data.
It appears to us, though, that Goldman has had several bright spots in 2012.
Of course, that's not to say the bank isn't dealing with legal issues. It still is. And the bank has only delivered an 8.8% return on common shareholder equity in the first three quarters of 2012 compared to 19.2% in the same period in 2009, according to Bloomberg News.
All that aside, the bank is still making steps in the right direction.
It's been an awful year for the financial industry in terms of scandals.
We've had the London Whale, the LIBOR scandal, insider trading and money laundering.
Goldman has avoided all this and looks much better by comparison.
A lot of other big banks on the Street had to pay big fines and settlements this year. Not Goldman.
Reuters' Ben Walsh, formerly a writer for Clusterstock, put together a massive rundown of investigations, lawsuits and fines the big banks faced this year.
Scanning this list, it's clear that Goldman wasn't really singled out for being the worst on the Street.
Goldman is facing an ongoing FHFA fraud case and a class action lawsuit over MBS going forward, the list shows.
We also have to point out that Goldman was also ordered to pay $1.5 million civil penalty by the CFTC earlier this month for failing to supervise a trader who hid a $8.3 billion position in 2007.
In 2012, Goldman hired a new PR chief with a major Washington, D.C. pedigree.
On March 13, Goldman said it had hired Jake Siewert, a former Tim Geithner aide and Clinton administration press secretary, as its new PR chief.
He's been tasked with turning around Goldman's image.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.