E*TRADE Ranked as Industry Leader in Employee Stock Plan Management Services Survey
E*TRADE Business Solutions Group Earns Highest Customer Satisfaction Rating And Captures Majority Marketshare of Users Surveyed
MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- E*TRADE Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGRP - news) today announced that its Business Solutions Group (BSG) has been ranked as the industry's leading stock management plan provider, according to a recent survey conducted by Group Five, an independent consulting and financial services research company. Among those who responded to the survey, the Business Solutions Group received the highest satisfaction rating compared with other competing services, and was also used more by respondents than any other competing service in the study. E*TRADE's Business Solutions Group has over 3,000 corporate clients including Oracle, Whole Foods, Applied Materials, Value America and Ask Jeeves.
The results are part of the 1999 Employee Plan Services Study that surveys more than 300 companies and measures corporate opinions of services provided to corporations and employees by employee stock plan service providers. Results showed that 54 percent of in-house administrators who responded to the survey use E*TRADE's Equity Edge stock plan management software, formerly known as ShareData's Equity Edge, as their in-house record keeping systems.
In addition, E*TRADE's Equity Edge solution received the highest satisfaction rating of 88 percent among users of in-house record keeping systems. The next highest satisfaction rating was only 66 percent.
``Our strong marketshare and customer satisfaction reports clearly indicate that our stock plan management solutions are setting the standard for the way corporations manage employee stock plans,' said Laura Fay, vice president and general manager of E*TRADE Business Solutions Group. ``By taking an innovative and integrated approach to administering plans, from the stock option grant through the employee transaction, our solutions are helping companies greatly reduce the administrative, hands-on effort involved in managing their programs.'
The annual study measured satisfaction in six major services provided by employee stock plan service firms including account administration, plan reporting, employee service, record keeping and interface with corporate systems. In addition, the study evaluated satisfaction with commercial stock option management systems.
Through its Business Solutions Group, E*TRADE provides stock plan management solutions to over 70 percent of Fortune magazine's ``Top 100 Companies to Work For' and provides company stock plan services to 88 percent of the top 150 Silicon Valley companies as rated by revenue.
E*TRADE's Business Solutions Group was created through the acquisition of ShareData, Inc. and OptionsLink. The Equity Edge software solution, a system that tracks employee stock for stock plan administrators, works together with OptionsLink to allow employees to obtain up-to-the-minute information on their stock plans.
Through the recently introduced second generation OptionsLink web site, employees can also conduct automated employee stock option and stock purchase transactions while investing online at their convenience and utilizing modeling features for vesting and tax information. The group has also introduced, a multilingual interactive voice response (IVR) telephone trading system and a new Client Service Center web site for stock plan professionals.
About Group Five
Group Five, Inc., an independent consulting and research firm located in Princeton, New Jersey, is best known for consulting and measurement expertise in the shareholder and employee services industry. Group Five conducts annual independent studies of corporations' opinions of the service they receive from their shareholder service and employee plan service agent. In addition, they conduct research studies on behalf of corporate clients, transfer agents, and other service providers in the industry. As a result of their research, Group Five has become the most knowledgeable independent source for information in the shareholder service and employee plan industries.
About E*TRADE
E*TRADE, a global leader in online personal financial services, is the world's most-visited online investing site according to Media Metrix (9/99), offering value-added investing and research features, premium customer service and a redundant, proprietary Stateless Architecture (SM) infrastructure. In addition to the US, E*TRADE presently serves customers through branded web sites in Japan, the U.K., Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. E*TRADE has been ranked the number one online brokerage by Gomez Advisors (for four out of the last five quarters), Lafferty Information and Research Group, PC Magazine and Smart Computing magazine. E*TRADE Securities Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), and its parent company, E*TRADE Group, Inc. have offices in Northern California and in other major business centers in the US and worldwide.
Important Notice
E*TRADE is a registered trademark of the company. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. The statements contained in this news release that are forward-looking are based on current expectations that are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially. The uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, changes in market activity, market acceptance of the Destination E*TRADE web site, anticipated increases in the rate of new customer acquisition, the conversion of new visitors to the site to customers, seasonality, the development of new products and services, the enhancement of existing products and services, competitive pressures (including price competition), system failures, economic and political conditions, changes in consumer behavior and the introduction of competing products having technological and/or other advantages. Further information about these risks and uncertainties can be found in the information included in the annual report filed by the company with the SEC on Form 10-K (including information under the caption ``Risk Factors') and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. |
