Press Releases

Through its e-mail campaign, the company targeted an audience of primarily 35- to 54-year-old women who live in the company’s markets. A variety of online ad opportunities, including third party advertising, keyword searches and permission-based e-mails, were used to provide financial planning tips and introduce corresponding tools available on the company’s Web site. The Women’s Retirement e-mail campaign was free to anyone who signed up and was accessible through www.firstunion.com.

Broker Monitor wrote, “(First Union’s) site is excellent and offered a comprehensive, intelligently presented set of tools, articles and resources for women.” The magazine noted four models that financial firms follow when offering products and services targeted to women: Top Down, Segmented, Targeted, and Integrated. The magazine also surveyed the industry Web sites to find collateral and/or programs targeted to women.

“Women are a very important customer group for Wachovia,” said Debra Nichols, head of Women’s Financial Advisory Services. “Our hope is to provide them with every kind of financial product or service they might need, and to make the financial planning process relatively easy and accessible. They can visit a financial center or do business with us by phone or online. Women don’t need different financial products than men do, but they sometimes live very different lives, and that can dramatically affect their financial decision-making.”

Not only are women a large and substantial emerging market, they are also heavy users of the Internet for their financial needs. Consider these statistics:

• Women have surpassed the number of men using the company’s site, now making up 51 percent of the online customer base.
• Women use the Internet differently than men do. Research shows that women are more concerned with privacy and tend to be more loyal to their financial institutions.

“The strength and influence of the Internet really helps us follow through on our commitment to educate women on financial planning for retirement,” said Lawrence Baxter, Wachovia’s Chief eCommerce Officer. “Our Women’s Financial Solutions Center is a great resource, and we are excited that the Women’s Retirement e-mail series allowed us to emphasize our dedication to this important market segment.”

About Wachovia’s Commitment to Women

In 1996, Wachovia began to recognize the market opportunity represented by women and to understand that the economic realities women face may not be the same as men’s. Recent research shows that 45 percent of Wachovia’s customer base is women. Survey results show that 62 percent of females earning between $60,000-90,000 per year feel neglected by their financial institutions and only 30 percent of women investors agreed that present financial service ads speak to them and their needs. The company continues to expand its commitment to women as part of a company-wide Small Business strategy. Debra Nichols, head of Women’s Financial Advisory Services, is a part of Wachovia’s Capital Management Group.

About Wachovia

Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB), created through the September 1, 2001, merger of First Union and Wachovia, had assets of $334 billion and stockholder's equity of $32 billion at September 30, 2002. Wachovia is a leading provider of financial services to 20 million retail, brokerage and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation. The company operates full-service banking offices under the First Union and Wachovia names in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C., and offers full-service brokerage with offices in 49 states and global services through more than 30 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services are available through wachovia.com and firstunion.com.