Informa Research Services partners with another Internet portal

CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA (October 23, 2003) -Informa Research Services, Inc., today announced a multi-year agreement with American Broadcasting Company (ABC) to provide a real-time feed of consumer bank product data. Under the agreement, Informa Research Services (www.informars.com) will provide banking data to help consumers increase gains or minimize costs on banking products, identify the best offers for them, and apply for these offers online. This consumer banking data will be available through ABC owned television stations’ websites.

“We have launched many Internet portal partnerships this year, and this one is truly exciting,” said Michael E. Adler, president and managing director of Informa Research Services, Inc. “Consumers seeking financial product information on the Internet will be able to access this detailed information through their local ABC affiliate’s website and search for the products that best meet their needs.”

Unlike its competitors, consumer traffic is never diverted to the Informa Research Services website. To avoid competing with their portal partners, Informa does not operate a consumer targeted website itself.

“I attribute our popularity to just that,” continued Adler. “We don’t steal traffic from our partner’s sites - we drive traffic to them. The major Internet portals have been switching their source of competitive rate information to Informa for some time now. We are the logical choice for this data since we partner with the portals and don't compete with them.”

“Informa Research Services’ information represents a significant addition to the Moneyscope section of our Internet portals,” said Ron Stitt, vice president, Internet operations, of ABC. “The tailored listings, local and national data, and the sorting and search tools give our visitors the ability to find the financial products they need. I fully expect it will be a popular attraction at all of our sites.”

“Our pipeline is full as we have signed several more partners which we have not yet announced,” stated Adler. “Several others are currently in the contract and development stages. Our model is obviously working as all our existing partners have renewed their agreements as they came due. Our advertisers also seem happy, as they are continuing their placements with Informa and expanding their relationships as we bring on new portals.

Informa Research Services will continuously update the data available on ABC, providing consumers with the most current bank product information.


About Informa Research Services, Inc.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Calabasas, CA, Informa Research Services, Inc., provides the financial industry's most extensive array of market research and decision-support information.

Conducting daily surveys of the retail and business products offered by more than 10,000 financial organizations nationwide, Informa Research Services, Inc., currently supports the product pricing decisions of more than 2,500 clients, representing all 50 states and including the top 25 financial institutions. This electronically transmitted competitive pricing intelligence effectively generates profitable responses to continual market changes, enables clients to effectively position deposit and loan products within local markets, maximizes interest income, and manages interest expense. Informa is the premier provider of fee and feature studies used to determine the competitiveness of fee-based services. In-depth studies are also available on cash management services, trust products, mystery shops, and other specialized services.

Informa Research Services, Inc., is a division of London-based Informa Group plc (LONDON:INF). Collectively, the business units of Informa Group plc sell to more than 121,000 delegates and 80,000 subscribers, generating annual revenues of over $283 million.