"I'm extremely proud of our employees in achieving this honor for seven consecutive years," said Wachovia Chairman and CEO Ken Thompson. "Providing excellent customer service is a hallmark of our company, and this award is testament to our success. I want to take this opportunity to thank our customers for choosing Wachovia."
In a report issued today by the ACSI, Wachovia scored five points higher than its closest peer named in the study. Wachovia has achieved a 13-point increase in its score since 2000.
"We are thrilled to once again be named No. 1 in customer satisfaction and will continue our work in moving customers from satisfied to loyal," said Andrea Bierce, Wachovia's director of Customer Experience & Loyalty. "To that end, Wachovia remains steadfast in its commitment to improving the customer experience and continues to pursue enhancements all across the company."
In addition to being ranked No. 1 by the ACSI, Wachovia has been recognized by many independent organizations for providing exceptional customer service across all areas of the company. A few of these accolades include:
- FImetrix ranked the Corporate and Investment Bank No. 1 correspondent bank for overall institutional client satisfaction. Wachovia also placed first in this survey in 2006.
- Wachovia was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Primary Mortgage Origination Study.
- Wachovia's online banking was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction for the third year in a row by comScore, a global leader in measuring digital trends.
- Wachovia Direct Access won Speech Technology magazine's first-ever Speech Industry Implementation Award for excellence in using speech technology to improve customer service.
- Wealth Management was named "High Net Worth Leader of the Year" by Private Asset Management, an industry publication of Institutional Investor. The award recognized Wachovia Wealth Management for "its westward expansion and for creating a national platform with three distinct channels to serve the affluent, high net worth and ultra high net worth segments."
2007 ACSI scores are derived from telephone surveys with a random sampling of Wachovia customers. Scores are based on a 100-point scale.
Founded in 1994, ACSI is one of the most highly regarded independent measures of how satisfied U.S. customers are with the quality of consumer goods and services. Each quarter, ACSI reports customer satisfaction scores for different sectors of the economy.
Financial services and banks are included in the fourth quarter report. The ACSI is produced through a partnership of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the American Society for Quality and CFI Group, an international consulting firm.
About Wachovia Corporation
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of $782.9 billion and market capitalization of $75.3 billion at December 31, 2007. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services to customers through 3,400 retail financial centers in 21 states from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally, clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage more than $1.2 trillion in client assets through 17,900 registered representatives in 1,500 offices nationwide. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerage products and services at wachoviasec.com; and investment products and services at evergreeninvestments.com.
