TNS Announces Winners of 2011 TNS Choice Awards for Investment Services

NEW YORK, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TNS, the world's largest custom research company, today announced the winners of the 2011 TNS Choice Awards in Investment Services. The award recognizes outstanding performance among leading providers of savings and investment services to affluent* Americans.  

Winners of the award have shown themselves to be the choice of the marketplace by their strong performance in attracting new clients, satisfying and retaining clients, and/or by winning a larger share of their clients' total savings/investment business.

TNS is pleased to recognize three winners for 2011:

• Ameriprise Financial, Inc.
• The Charles Schwab Corporation
• TD Ameritrade, Inc.

Ameriprise has been awarded a TNS Choice Award due to its superior client retention performance. Ameriprise clients, which give the firm high client satisfaction marks, report strong relationships with Ameriprise advisors.  

Charles Schwab's positive momentum is attributable to its success retaining and expanding relationships with its customers.  A smaller proportion of Schwab customers express a willingness to consider switching than at any leading competitor.

TD Ameritrade's success centers on its client acquisition and retention momentum.  Clients give the firm strong ratings for the quality of its website and online tools, and for the depth of its products and services.

Winners were chosen based on findings from TNS' Affluent Market Research Program, a multi-client market intelligence program for providers of investment services. The study examines how affluent investors think about, shop for, and utilize savings and investment services, and it evaluates the competitive momentum of individual providers. TNS uses ten different metrics, each providing an indication of how individual firms are performing vis-a-vis their competitors. Using all ten measures, TNS calculates an overall "competitive momentum score."

"Erosion of trust in financial service firms and economic uncertainty have placed a premium on staying close to existing clients and fine-tuning the approach with prospective clients," said Bob Neuhaus, Global Sector Head for Financial Services.  "The TNS Choice winners have outpaced their competition in retaining and acquiring new clients as well as deepening relationships during challenging times," he added.

"Success is a function of many factors including value offered, convenience provided, reputation, clarity of advertising, and quality of products," said Joe Hagan, Senior Vice President of multi-client programs at TNS and Manager of the TNS Choice Awards.  "The interplay of these factors influence investors' choices and distinguish the winners in the competitive marketplace," he added.

*Americans with investable assets of $100,000+

For more information on the TNS Choice Awards, please visit: www.tns-us.com/choice

About TNS

TNS is the global leader in custom market research delivering actionable insights and research-based business advice to clients around the globe so they can make more effective business decisions. TNS offers comprehensive industry knowledge within the Consumer, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Political & Social sectors, supported by a unique product offering that stretches across the entire range of marketing and business issues, specializing in product development & innovation, brand & communication, stakeholder management, retail & shopper, and qualitative research. Delivering best-in-class service across more than 80 countries, TNS is dedicated to discovering growth opportunities for its clients in an ever-changing world.  Through its pioneering and innovative culture, TNS understands the latest marketing challenges and research techniques, being the first to discover and solve new marketing issues for clients.

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TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks.

Please visit www.tns-us.com for more information.

About Kantar

Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.

For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com

SOURCE TNS