Industry Leader Profiles

Barclays Wealth is the global wealth management arm of the Barclays Group.  As committed wealth experts, our focus is on providing innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of wealthy clients and those aspiring to become wealthier.

As a single source for asset management, private banking, financial planning, brokerage and online services onshore and offshore, we bring truly specialist knowledge and expertise to act as a wealth guide for our clients. We can provide services and products tailored to clients’ individual needs, whether they want integrated services based on close personal relationships, or whether they prefer to manage their own investments and banking through online trading tools and information.

With access to the resources of the Barclays Group and its banking heritage of over 300 years, we can offer leading-edge investment solutions through institutional quality products and services from Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors.

Barclays Wealth has over 7,900 staff in 25 different countries delivering world-class service to our clients, and looking after client assets of £145.1 billion worldwide (as at 31 December 2008).

Visit www.barclayswealth.com for more information.

ESB - Electricity Supply Board - is the Republic of Ireland's premier electricity utility.  It is 95% owned by the Government of Ireland, with the remaining shares held by an employee share option trust.

ESB is a vertically integrated utility and it includes a number of divisions which are ring-fenced and operate independently in the electricity market.  ESB Group employs approximately 7800 people.  It is the leading Irish company in the energy utility sector.

The National Customer Contact Centre is managed by ESB Customer Supply and provides services to ESB Customer Supply - one of several supply companies operating in the Republic's open electricity market - and ESB Networks the owner of the high voltage transmission system and the owner and operator of the medium and lower voltage distribution system.  It provides services to all electricity customers and all generators and suppliers of electricity in the Republic.

The NCCC has a staff of 260 and handles almost 4 million calls per year.  It is based in cork and handles calls from across the country with assistance from a locally based outsource partner.

 Lloyds TSB Group plc was renamed Lloyds Banking Group plc on 19 January 2009, following the acquisition of HBOS plc. This makes us the largest retail bank in the UK with a number of leading market positions. One in three people bank with us.

We have strengths and products from both companies - including Lloyds TSB’s prudent approach to risk and HBOS’s leading savings, mortgage and bancassurance businesses. We have multiple brands, including Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, which means we can serve customers in terms of pricing and positioning to cover and attract more of the market.

We have a distribution network that is second to none, including 13 Telephone Banking centres, and the largest branch network in the UK. Our 5,000 telephony advisors take an average 125m customer calls every year, an average of over 14,200 an hour!
Our goal is to be the best financial services provider in the UK, building a leadership position not on the basis of scale, but on the foundations of reputation and recommendation.

While the short term outlook for all financial services companies in the UK and around the globe is challenging, we believe that the acquisition of HBOS will be a success and presents us with many opportunities. We have a business that has clear scale benefits, which in time can lead to superior returns in the new banking environment.

Established in 1861, NS&I operated as the Post Office Savings Bank for over a century. In 1969, we formally separated from the Post Office and became a government department known as National Savings. In 1996, we became an Executive Agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and in 2002, re-branded as National Savings and Investments, reflecting our wider portfolio and the changing markets in which we operate.

Our vision is to build a better financial future for our customers by providing the most valued and trusted savings experience. At the end of 2008-09, the total amount of investments we hold has risen to over £97 billion.

Our operations and contact centres are run in partnership with Siemens IT Solutions & Services. These have been successfully accredited to CCA Global Standard and ensure that we are compliant with the Varney Report, published in 2006 by the Cabinet Office. The contact centres handle over 3 million calls and 200,000 e-mails per year, on behalf of NS&I. The contact centres have a mature workforce, with an extremely low attrition rate. This loyalty and low attrition has resulted in an extremely knowledgeable workforce with a genuine care and passion for the needs of NS&I customers.

High levels of service and innovative training programs has resulted in the NS&I / Siemens partnership achieving call standards recognition and awards and underline our commitment to provide excellent customer service.

For Further information please contact:
Colin Ross, Head of Telephone Channel, NS&I.
Tel: 020 7348 9204

O2 is a leading communications brand providing connected services for consumers and businesses in the UK.  Launched in 2002, O2 now has more customers than any other UK mobile network, with over 20 million mobile and 400,000 fixed broadband customers.

we're part of the global Telefonica S.A. business, which owns O2 in Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and Czech Republic.  O2 is the naming rights partner of 'The O2', London's world-class entertainment venue.  O2 also launched 'O2 Money' in July 2009.

O2 employs 13,000 people in the UK, with 450 retail stores and over 5,000 people in contact centres in Preston Brook, Bury, Leeds and Glasgow.  A select group of outsource partners also support our operations.  Our aim is to deliver a Customer Service experience to exceed customers' expectations, ensure value for money, and provide a great place to work for employees - in short, turn our customers and our people into fans of O2.

O2 was ranked number 1 in Customer Satisfaction for UK mobile/fixed broadband and Pay & Go customers, as well as 2nd for UK Pay Monthly customers, according to the J.D. Power & Associates studies in the first half of 2009.  O2 also achieved 1st place in the Telecoms sector in the Institute of Customer Service UK Customer Satisfaction Index in July 2009.