November 12, 2003

People's Web Site Ranked Best In The Nation For Migrating Traditional Customers Online

Rated higher than Fleet, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, among others

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. - People's Web site, peoples.com has been named No. 1 in the nation in a study that measured financial institutions' success in moving customers online. Jupiter Research, a division of Jupiter Media Corp., an industry leader in the analysis of Internet and new technologies, annually studies and ranks the Web sites of approximately 11,000 banks in the United States.

Peoples.com ranked eighth in overall effectiveness for Jupiter's ''Composite Online Rating of Effectiveness'' survey.

''Our achievement in moving customers online is key to our success with peoples.com,'' said Jaci Coleman, executive vice president and chief information officer at People's. ''We're especially pleased with our results because we have found that our online customers are exceptionally loyal to and satisfied with the bank. This provides us with the opportunity to serve them better and longer.''

People's uses a customer-focused approach to developing its Internet site, which is an integrated component of the bank's multi-faceted delivery system. The result is an online experience that - as the survey indicates - provides customers with a superior experience that gets them online and then keeps them coming back.

People's was one of the first banks in the country to establish an Internet presence in 1995. People's introduced the third generation of peoples.com in 2000, giving customers the ability to fully integrate their banking and brokerage accounts, pay bills online and access their People's credit card account histories. The site also offers online cash management for businesses. People's NASD-member brokerage subsidiary, People's Securities, Inc., began offering online trading through peoples.com in 1999, and today more than 50 percent of all People's Securities' equities and options trades are conducted online.

The site processes in excess of two million transactions each month. People's also receives about 30,000 customer e-mails a month, most of which are answered in less than four hours.

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 assets of $12 billion, 154 branches and more than 230 ATMs. People's is a leader in consumer and commercial banking, residential lending, insurance sales, supermarket banking and is the nation's 19th-largest issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards. People's subsidiaries offer brokerage services, asset management, equipment financing and leasing, and insurance services.