People's Bank Introduces
AirRewards™ Plus
Platinum MasterCard®

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.
People’s Bank (Nasdaq:PBCT) announced today the introduction of its new People’s AirRewards Plus™ Platinum MasterCard® as one of several key initiatives to enhance its credit card services division.

Users of the People’s AirRewards Plus Platinum MasterCard will receive one AirRewards Plus point for each dollar spent on purchases made with the card. Points earned can be redeemed for free travel on all major U.S. airlines with no blackout dates, for a variety of hotel and car rental benefits, or as a credit toward any travel booked through the program. Rewards are available beginning at just 3,500 points.

“This is another step in our continuing efforts to broaden our offerings and enhance the credit card business, which historically has added significantly to the bank’s earnings,” said John A. Klein, president and chief executive officer of People’s Bank. “The initiatives we are announcing today, coupled with our ongoing strategic efforts, will continue to add to the bottom line and enhance the cross-selling synergies between our highly successful branch system and our national credit card business.”

Other initiatives the bank announced today included the launch of its internal Data Analyst Development Program to recruit, train and develop employees in the highly specialized and critically important field of data analysis, and an aggressive plan to market home equity loans.

The home equity loan push has been made possible by the redesign of the bank’s underwriting process, enabling People’s to turn around nearly 80 percent of applications in just one day, compared with only 10 percent previously. To capitalize on this improvement, People’s has lowered rates on home equity credit lines, stepped up its marketing of the product and embarked on a branch-wide sales initiative.

“These initiatives are important steps as we look to increase the visibility of our business both in Connecticut and on a nationwide basis,” said Mark K. Vitelli, executive vice president of Credit Card Services at People’s. “We are particularly excited about the cross-product relationship building opportunities we are creating, such as offering AirRewards People's ATM Cards with no annual fee to our Advantage Plus and Investor Plus checking customers in Connecticut.”

In addition to Rewards points, the new card offers a variety of other benefits, including online account access through People’s top-rated Web site, peoples.com, a personalized billing date, annual account summary, and platinum MasterCard benefits such as up to $1 million of travel accident insurance, free auto rental collision/loss/damage insurance, and extended warranty coverage.

People’s (peoples.com) is a diversified financial services company providing commercial, consumer, insurance and investment services. Founded in 1842, it is the largest state-chartered bank in Connecticut with managed assets of $14 billion, 143 branches and 220 ATMs. People’s is a leader in consumer and commercial banking, residential lending, insurance sales, supermarket banking and is the nation’s 16th-largest issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards. People’s subsidiaries offer brokerage services, asset management, equipment financing and leasing, and insurance services.