Press Release

Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
15 Jan 2007

Citizens Bank of Canada Selects Certification to the COPC-2000® CSP Standard Release 4.0

Williamsville, NY – Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC Inc.) announces that Citizens Bank of Canada has initiated the process for certification to the COPC Release 4.0 for Customer Service Providers at its National Contact Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The National Contact Centre is a central channel of member services for Citizens Bank and Vancity. Many of the bank’s (and the Vancity Group) members interact with the contact centre which provides services that include account opening, lending, mortgages, investing. Certification to the COPC-2000® CSP Standard will affect all aspects of the Citizen Bank’s retail and support services, and will help maintain their commitment to "deliver more when it matters most".

The certification process, which will deploy a performance management system designed to standardize processes and create an environment of sustained performance improvement, will begin with an initial baseline assessment scheduled for April 2007.

About COPC Inc.
Customer Operations Performance Center Inc. (COPC Inc.) is the world’s leading authority on operations management and performance improvement for buyers and providers of customer contact center and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The COPC® Performance Management System includes operational certification programs, operational management training, Six Sigma in Contact Centers, performance improvement consulting, and vendor sourcing and management services.

Since 1996, COPC Inc. has helped organizations in more than 50 countries drive results averaging two to five times Return on Investment (ROI) with a payback of less than one year. These results are achieved by leveraging the COPC® Family of Standards, the industry’s first performance management and certification system which, today, remains the most rigorous and only high performance set of global best practices and performance metrics that simultaneously increase customer satisfaction and profitability.

Global clients include Accenture, Apple, BT Group, Bertelsmann Arvato, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cable & Wireless, Citigroup, Convergys, Genpact, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, NTT, Sony, Telefónica, Telstra, and Wipro.

About Citizens Bank of Canada
Founded in 1997, Citizens Bank is the only bank in Canada with an Ethical Policy that publicly states its position on key social and environmental issues. Wholly owned by Vancity credit union, Citizens Bank offers 24-hour, seven-days-a-week service through citizensbank.ca and by telephone. The Bank’s Ethical Policy, commitment to be “carbon neutral” by 2010, unique Shared Interest donation and affinity Visa card partnerships with Amnesty International and Oxfam, and many other products and services all support its mandate of corporate social responsibility. www.citizensbank.ca