Survey Reveals Half of All IFA’s Wasting One Day per Month Searching Poor Quality Extranet Sites

London, UK - 6 December 2006 - A Percussion Software survey of 366 Association of Independent Financial Advisors (AIFA) members has revealed that financial institutions still have a long way to go in terms of providing accurate online product and services information to IFA's through their extranet sites. Over half of AIFA members (53%) now spend between one and two hours per week (12 days per year) in lost time as a result of inaccurate extranet information. Sixty percent of all members insisted that they would "not work" or would be "a lot less likely to work" with a provider whose site was regularly out of date.

IFA's are increasingly relying on the Internet as a source of product information for their customers, with seventy eight percent of IFA's revealing that they now spend up to two hours per day searching extranet sites for information. Only eight percent of surveyed members responded that they did not use the Internet at all for this purpose. For financial services companies wondering whether to invest more time and money into their online strategy, the survey revealed that sixty seven percent of IFA's felt that the quality of the financial provider's extranet site was either "important" or "very important" in their decision as to whether or not to use them.

Percussion's flagship software product, Rhythmyx is currently used by financial institutions including Alliance & Leicester, Reuters, Newcastle Building Society, Britannic Assurance (part of the Resolution plc), Bank Atlantic and ING Direct. Rhythmyx allows companies to maximise both the value and quality of their enterprise content through cost-effective content management, ease of content reuse and optimized delivery to multiple channels.

Joseph Wykes, managing director, European operations, Percussion Software: "IFA's are incredibly important to financial service providers yet IFA's obviously feel that their needs are being overlooked by a large majority. Accurate and timely information is the lifeblood of this sector and in such a competitive market it is imperative that that all product and service information is available online at the touch of a button."

Other highlights from the Percussion Software/AIFA survey reveal:

• Five cent of the surveyed members estimated that they lose a remarkable five hours or more per week in using inadequate extranet sites. This equates to just over three days per month in lost revenue generating time.
• Only seven percent of all surveyed AIFA members felt that the quality of a provider's extranet site was not important or not important at all.
• Only eight percent of members felt that a poor quality extranet site would deter them from working with the provider in the future. Whilst thirty percent would be a "little less likely" to use them again.
• Twenty four percent are using the Internet for one hour per day to search for product and service information.

About the AIFA:

The Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) is a trade body representing 70% of the IFA market from the largest national firm to the smallest local adviser. The AIFA keeps IFAs informed about developments which affect their business and operates a helpline for regulatory and technical queries. We are mounting several initiatives intended to help the effective operation of IFA businesses and reduce the costs of regulation. AIFA champions the IFA cause with the FSA, FOS, FSCS and increasingly, in Europe. Whether the issues are costly PII, over-regulation, or unfair treatment of IFAs, AIFA speaks out and works to bring about change. All our work aims to improve the environment within which IFAs run their businesses.