06.04.01-John Packel Leaves Bankrate

Founder and Publisher of Green Magazine Joins Informa Research Services


John Packel leaves Bankrate, Inc. to head up Informa's Online Initiatives.

CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA (June 4, 2001) -- Informa Research Services, Inc., announced today that it hired John Packel to head up business development for its Internet partner initiative. Informa Research Services has seen rapid expansion of its Internet partners, including Intuit's Quicken network, America Online (AOL.com), Excite.com, LowerMyBills.com and Edmunds.com.

"We are always thrilled when someone with John's experience and reputation joins the Informa Family," stated Michael E. Adler, President and Managing Director of Informa Research Services. "John has developed business partnerships with AOL, Yahoo!, CompuServe, Netscape, Motley Fool, Bloomberg, USAToday, and numerous other sites."

John Packel is a Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1996, he co-founded Green Magazine and was its publisher and president, selling the magazine to Bankrate, Inc. in 1999 and launching its website soon after. Mr. Packel was most recently Partner Development Manager for Bankrate, where he had business development responsibilities for many of Bankrate.com's top syndication partnerships.

"I met with Informa and was instantly sold that this was the company to call home," stated Packel. "Informa is truly customer service driven: they listen to what the customer wants, and they deliver. And as a B2B provider, Informa does not compete for its partners' traffic or ad inventory. Informa provides its clients with first-class, customized data and allows the client to present it in the manner that best suits their website and, ultimately, their bottom line."

While many financial content providers are struggling financially, Informa Research Services continues to report record growth in revenues and profits.

"Many of our competitors are running out of cash and shutting their doors. This fallout is allowing us to hire their best talent, and team it with the best products available. It's an exciting time at Informa!" finished Adler.

Mr. Packel will be based out of Informa's downtown Manhattan offices at One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

About Informa Research Services, Inc. Based 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 5,000 financial organizations nationwide, Informa Research Services, Inc., currently supports the product pricing decisions of more than 2,100 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). Informa Group offers "must have" business-to-business information through 3,500 conferences and seminars and nearly 1,500 print and electronic publications from offices in 19 countries.