Merrill Lynch Call Centers Earn Certification from Purdue University's BenchmarkPortal

Merrill Lynch’s Direct Client Services Call Centers in Hopewell, NJ and Jacksonville, FL recently were re-certified as Centers of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, in conjunction with Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality.Santa Maria, CA (Nov. 17, 2004) - Merrill Lynch's Direct Client Services Call Centers in Hopewell, NJ and Jacksonville, FL recently were re-certified as Centers of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, in conjunction with Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality. This certification is presented to an elite group of call centers that have clearly demonstrated key performance indicators that surpass rigorous standards of efficiency and operational effectiveness. "The Merrill Lynch customer service call centers have recently been re-certified as Purdue University Centers of Excellence. Through proper planning and strong leadership, Merrill continues to offer world-class customer service by ensuring that inbound customer calls are handled quickly, accurately, and with a high degree of quality. By focusing on the people, the processes, and the technology of their call centers, Merrill has been able to once more achieve a highly efficient operation while also delivering the quality that their customers have come to expect", said Dr. Anton of BenchmarkPortal. "This certification places Merrill's performance in the top five percent of over 100,000 customer service call centers in the United States." Judy Nelson, First Vice President of Merrill Lynch Global Private Client Services, added: "In today's competitive environment, how we deliver service is what will differentiate Merrill Lynch in the marketplace. Our team consistently works with the benchmarking industry and experts to validate our processes and effectiveness in exceeding client expectations. As always, the teamwork of our employees, management team and business partners has been and continues to be key in this achievement". The re-certification was awarded to Direct Client Services in August 2004 following a comprehensive benchmarking study and onsite visit from researchers within BenchmarkPortal. During this process, objective, quantitative data was audited and validated by the researchers. Direct Client Services' multi-site service operation handles over 80 million contacts annually for retail, 401(k), and Employee Stock Option Plans. The re-certification as a Center of Excellence clearly demonstrates that by remaining committed to achieving service excellence in the most cost-efficient ways possible, the Direct Client Services call centers have reached an optimized balance between efficiency and effectiveness, while focusing on increasing customer loyalty. About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. It provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. BenchmarkPortal's Web site can be found at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com For additional information contact: Susan Hampton BenchmarkPortal, Inc. SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com