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Synovate announces Canadian Financial Service Excellence Awards for 2007

27 August 2007

TD takes top honours in most areas while RBC scores a breakthrough

TORONTO — Global market research company Synovate announced the latest results from its annual Customer Service Index (CSI) survey for customer service excellence among the Top 5 Banks in Canada. The CSI survey is now in its 20th year of providing the financial sector with an essential pulse on how their customers rate them as well as specific metrics for improving service.

This year's survey, conducted among a regionally and demographically representative sample of 17,500 Canadians from July through mid-August 2007, shows that the Top 5 Banks in Canada continue to improve their performance in meeting their customers' expectations, with an average 28% improvement in Overall Quality of Customer Service compared with 2002.

Even more significantly, there is a striking correlation between this year's Financial Service Award leaders and their respective organic revenue growth rates for their domestic retail and small business operations. As Rob Myers, Managing Director of Synovate in Canada notes, "We found that the results from the 20^th anniversary Customer Service Index as well as prior years surveys are highly correlated with the respective institutions’ organic revenue growth rates, demonstrating that meeting and exceeding customers' expectations has a direct impact on their financial performance."

Financial Service Excellence Awards 2007 for the Top 5 Banks:

• 2007 marks the third year in a row that TD has achieved the highest rating among the Top 5 Banks for Excellence in Overall Quality of Customer Service. This year, RBC scored second highest while Bank of Nova Scotia placed third.
• RBC scored a breakthrough by taking two awards, having not seen any top placements last year.
• CIBC came on strong by achieving the highest score for Interest Rates and Service Charges, whereas the bank did not rate on top for any category in 2006.

Changes in service excellence ratings among the Top 5 Banks:

• Two banks have dominated the battle for the Award in Excellence on Overall Quality of Customer Service among the Top 5 Banks, with TD and BNS each achieving three lead positions during the last six years. BNS took the lead placement in Overall Quality among the Top 5 Banks for three successive years – 2002 through 2004. In 2005, TD overtook BNS to place first for Overall Quality, a position it has maintained through to this year's Awards.
• BNS has taken the lead among the Top 5 Banks on Overall Quality more times than any of the other Top 5 Banks throughout the 20 year history of the Synovate Customer Service Index, and had the honour of holding that position when the survey was first launched in 1987.
• Since 2003 RBC has continued to improve their performance in the Value for Money category receiving top honour in 2007, demonstrating that its customers have become increasingly satisfied with the bank's products and services.

Myers further commented: "We have seen great efforts by the banking industry to improve the service that customers receive in-branch and when using ATM's, online banking and savings or chequing accounts. The trends over time in the Customer Service Index clearly show that this effort is resonating with their customers and evidently has a direct bearing on the banks' overall financial performance."