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Northern Trust Assigned Highest Ethics Reputation Rating by Rating Research

Trading Operations Hurt Ethics Ratings of Other Banks

Bedminster, N.J. (15 April 2003) — Northern Trust was the only bank assigned the “highest quality” Ethics Reputation Rating of E1 among 21 banking institutions rated by Rating Research LLC (RRC), a reputation rating agency. The Ethics Reputation Ratings follow the release of the agency’s broader Corporate Reputation Ratings on the banking industry last month.

“Many of the banks that expanded into trading operations appear to have been hurt by their transactional culture and potentially weaker ethics environment,” said Dory Gasorek, Principal and Rating Committee Chair, RRC. “Conversely, banks with a narrower business focus, with greater customer service or of more moderate size — such as Northern Trust, SunTrust and Fifth Third — generally perform better on our Ethics Reputation Ratings.”

Citigroup, PNC Financial and US Bancorp — and JPMorgan Chase to a slightly lesser degree — emerge at the weaker end of the “medium quality” E3 rating scale. For example, PNC Financial received low scores on three of the seven ethics components while Citigroup garnered fourth-quintile rankings on trust, ethical business practices and openness and honesty, thus suggesting weakness within its core ethics fundamentals, according to Ms. Gasorek.

Although financial analysts surveyed by RRC admire Citigroup’s marketing prowess, they generally share similar concerns about its ethical behavior, with one noting: “The company’s main weaknesses are the Wall Street scandals, conflicts of interest and questions about management’s integrity.” Regarding JPMorgan Chase, one executive felt their rapid growth had impacted their ethics noting that “[JPMorgan Chase] was a good bank that grew too rapidly and got itself into trouble.” PNC Financial’s negative press coverage over recent regulatory concerns presumably impacted its rating, according to RRC.

The Ethics Reputation Ratings are based on interviews with industry executives conducted during November-December 2002 and focus on seven core components, including: perception as a trustworthy company; having strong corporate governance; being open and honest with the public; and adhering to ethical business practices; among others.

Industry Fares Reasonably Well but Is Vulnerable on ‘Trustworthy’

On average, the U.S. banking industry enjoys a high-to-medium quality ethics reputation and a low-to-medium risk of ethics reputation default, according to RRC. Despite the numerous post-Enron financial scandals, just over half of the 21 banks surveyed warrant above-average E2 or E1 ratings.

“This is good news for the industry in that it suggests there is sufficient ethics strength to face – and weather – continuing challenges,” commented Ms. Gasorek. “At the same time, given this industry’s significant dependence on trust and confidence to avoid the feared ‘run on the bank’ debacle, it is somewhat worrisome that only one institution received a top E1 rating.”

Additionally, none of the 21 banks in the study garnered a first-quintile ranking on “trustworthiness”; weakness was demonstrated on other components as well, notably openness and honesty, ethical business practices, and corporate governance, where some banks earn low fourth-quintile rankings.

RRC, a joint venture between The Ratrix Group and Opinion Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCI), assigns Reputation Ratings and Ethics Reputation Ratings to leading companies and publishes those rating opinions as a public service. Ratings and industry highlights may be found on RRC’s website at www.ratingresearch.com.

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For more information on RRC’s Corporate Reputation Ratings contact Jane Barr.