E-Loan, Fleet Get Web Kudos

Among North America's largest financial services firms, E-Loan ranked highest overall in online customer satisfaction in the first quarter and Fleet Bank ranked No. 1 among commercial banks, according to the Customer Respect Group.In other results of CRG's First Quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study, World Savings Bank scored highest among savings institutions, while Washington Mutual scored lowest, and A.G. Edwards topped the securities companies list, while Morgan Stanley scored lowest. Among companies operating almost exclusively through the Internet and telephone, E-Loan did best among Internet financial firms, and best overall. The study also indicated that 43% of surveyed firms share personal data with business partners or third parties, one of the highest industry percentages measured. That percentage fell from 59% in the second-quarter 2004 report, but is still much higher than the 24% all-industry 2004 average. CRG said the results are based on interviews of a representative sample of the adult Internet population, and analysis of more than 2,000 corporate websites. The company is an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online.