Results of a survey conducted among financial services companies about their use of and plans for social media.

1. To “Friend” is the Trend:Social Media & Financial Services 2010 Survey Summary Report 1

2. Executive Summary The explosion in financial firms’ social media efforts since our last study in 2008 has been impressive. Indeed, our report To “Friend” is the Trend: Social Media & Financial Services Today (to be published in October) shows that the number of firms we track using some form of social media is up nearly 200%since October 2008.As part of our research for this new study, we surveyed our clients to try to understand their thinking on the subject of social media. The report that follows shares the key insights from this survey. Among the survey respondents whose firm uses social media tools today, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are the most widely used platforms. Blogs, forums, and news aggregating sites are not as common today but interest in implementing such features in the next 12 months is high. Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace for $580 million. For his sake, we hope he wasn’t expecting the financial services industry to help him recoup that cost because 93% of those surveyed said they have no plans to use it. One of the more telling findings of this survey is that while respondents understand the need for social media (86% say it is important to their marketing/customer efforts), formal corporate-wide strategies do not yet exist (less than 20% of respondents say their entire company has a clearly defined social media strategy). Further, only one-third expect to have a codified strategy in the next 12-months. It’s clear that the industry is still figuring this medium out. The marketing department is widely recognized as the logical leader of a firm’s social media efforts, but when it comes to coordinating these efforts across the company, no consensus emerges as to plans or responsibilities. What is clear is the widespread perception that compliance is the “social media prevention department.” Our respondents said compliance, regulatory restraints, competing priorities and lack of resources were the largest impediments to social media use. Finally, if you are unclear about how to measure the impact of social media – or its ROI – on your firm, you are not alone. It seems that firms simply don’t have a handle on how to measure the return on their social media initiatives. More than half of respondents say they are currently developing metrics to measure the success of their social media campaigns; those that don’t have metrics today admit that they’re not sure how to measure social media’s effectiveness. The bottom line is that while financial institutions recognize that social media is growing in importance, they are still unsure about how to capitalize on the opportunity and assess its impact on their profitability. 2

3. Respondents are mix of retail financial firms. What industry do you work in? 3

4. 8 out of 10 companies are using social media or have initiatives to do so. 4 85%

5. If you are not using Social Media, your employees think you should. Do you think that your firm should be using social media? 5 25% 18% 8% 48%

6. Twitter is most popular social media tool, followed by Facebook and LinkedIn. Please indicate which types of social media you are currently using, planning to use in 12 months, and not planning to use at all. 6

7. Social Media Strategy 7

8. Social media is very important in firms’ marketing or customer service strategies. How important is social media to your firm’s marketing or customer service strategy? 8 61% 15% 24%

9. Corporate-wide social media strategy is in its infancy… Our department has a clearly defined social media strategy, but it is not integrated across the firm. Does your company or department have a formalized social media strategy? Our department has certain standards, but a formal strategy does not exist. Our entire company has a clearly defined social media strategy. It's complete chaos, we are winging it. 9

10. …and may stay that way for a while. Do you plan to have a social media strategy within the next 12 months? 10 67% 33%

11. There is no consensus on coordination efforts. Which of the following best describes the social media efforts within your company? 31% 18% There are limited efforts underway in different parts of the company. There are significant efforts underway across the company with minimal coordination among them. There are significant efforts underway across the company with significant coordination among them. 21% There are significant efforts across the company that are being driven by a centralized social media group. I don’t know. 4% 11 26%

12. On average, we’re average. How would you rate the overall social media strategy or efforts your company CURRENTLY EMPLOYS? 12

13. People are overwhelmingly optimistic about their firm’s future efforts. Over the next year, do you think the quality of your firm’s social media efforts will… 13 93% 7%

14. Brand improvement is primary driver of social media strategies. How important are the following objectives to your company’s social media efforts? Increase customer retention Acquire new customers Fix customer problems Make company’s culture more customer-centric Average Importance 14

15. Compliance is the largest impediment to social media. To what extent are the following issues a challenge to your firm’s social media efforts? Average Importance 15

16. Most social media efforts are internal & marketing is primary organization. 16 27% 10% 63%

17. Impact & ROI of Social Media 17

18. It’s too early to tell what impact social media has had on financial firms. How would you describe the impact your social media efforts has had on your company? 18

19. Metrics are still in development. Does your company measure the return on investment (ROI) of your social media efforts? 19 51% 8% 5% 36%

20. Firms need help in defining metrics. Of the respondents who said they are not currently measuring ROI, 30% said the reason is that they don’t know how to do so. 20

21. About Corporate Insight 21 Corporate Insight provides financial companies with unmatched research on the customer experience and unusually informed competitive intelligence. While our clients cover the spectrum of financial services, our expertise focuses on brokerage, mutual funds, banking and credit cards, and annuities. No one else does quite what we do. Our uniqueness lies in the blend of our uncommon research approach with the wide variety of company functional areas that utilize our services. We gather information by becoming the customer. Instead of relying solely on surveys or third-party data, we have accounts at all major financial firms in order to experience firsthand what the customer experiences. Our analyses of the customer experience enable our clients to strengthen existing products and services, stimulate ideas for new offerings and get a detailed look at what their competitors are doing. Our output has great value not only for the more obvious functional areas—C-level management, market research, product management and development, customer experience, e-commerce, strategic planning—but also for less obvious areas such as pricing, information technology, operations, distribution, marketing communications and compliance. We conduct ourselves, both as a company and individuals, according to a set of core values: Clients first: Our clients are our top priority, and we serve them accordingly. Integrity: Our word is our bond. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and do what we say we’ll do. Objectivity: Our research and methodologies are unbiased and transparent. Comprehensiveness: Our work stands out for its depth and attention to detail. Accessibility: Our executives and industry analysts are always available to clients, and any client employee has access to our work. These values have stood the test of time, as our client relationships tend to deepen over the long term. In fact, most of our original clients remain with us today.

22. Methodology 22 This survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey.com. We solicited responses from our client contact database and received 193 responses across 91 different firms. The survey was made available from August through mid-September 2010. We limited responses to people who claimed their firms were currently using social media and that they had direct involvement in their companies’ social media efforts and did not work for a vendor firm.

23. Report: To “Friend” is the Trend: Social Media & Financial Services Today When Corporate Insight first analyzed how financial services companies were using social media back in 2008, the industry was only just beginning to explore the benefits of these new tools. When we published “Social Media: Trends and Tactics in the Financial Services Industry” that fall, doubts still lingered about the potential business value of social media. Without any firm metrics in place to determine the ROI of social endeavors, and burdened by concerns about the potential risks associated with these tools, many firms were comfortable sitting on the sidelines. But not all firms were content to take a “wait and see” approach. By 2008, a number of firms had launched proprietary communities and, increasingly, firms started to tap into popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter, even if just to lay claim to their name on the budding sites. The tactics of many of these early adopters of social media showed signs of promise but it was still too early to determine if firms could successfully harness these tools to achieve their strategic goals, or if participation in the Social Web would prove to be nothing more than a novelty or, worse, a liability. Our new report, To “Friend” Is the Trend: Social Media and Financial Services Today, offers an assessment as to how the landscape has changed since 2008. In it, we return to the firms covered in our initial report, examining the evolution of social media tactics within the industry and highlighting evidence of successful strategies. We also review the ever-growing list of firms who have entered the Social Web since 2008, analyzing their use of third-party communities Facebook and Twitter in addition to proprietary efforts such as blogs, forums and online communities. This report is priced at $11,700 but if you order your copy by October 5, 2010, you will receive the discounted price of $9,700. To reserve your copy, please contact Jaclyn Silverberg at 212-832-2002 ext. 127 or at jsilverberg@corporateinsight.com. 23 Click here for more information.