TNS Announces Winners of 2011 TNS Choice Awards

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TNS, the world's largest custom research company, today announced the winners of the 2011 TNS Choice Awards. The awards recognize financial services organizations that have achieved superior performance in consumer banking.

Winners of the award have shown themselves to be the preferred choice by their strong performance in attracting new customers, satisfying and retaining customers, and winning a larger share of their customers' total banking business. The program is developed to identify strong achievement on both the National and Regional level. The 2011 TNS Choice Award winners are:

Winners were chosen as part of TNS' Market Effectiveness in Consumer Banking research program.  The Market Effectiveness program, which surveys individuals who are responsible for making financial decisions, evaluates the competitive momentum of individual banks.  TNS uses ten different metrics to assess how effective individual banks are in terms of increasing the number of customers they serve and in terms of building larger, stronger customer relationships.

"There are other awards that recognize strong customer satisfaction, said Joe Hagan, Senior Vice President of multi-client programs at TNS and Manager of the TNS Choice Awards. "While customer satisfaction is important, we believe what matters most is performance in the competitive marketplace."

"Consumer banking success is a function of many factors including value offered, convenience provided, reputation, clarity of advertising, and quality of products," said Bob Neuhaus, TNS Global Sector Head of Financial Services.  "The interplay of these factors influence consumer choices and distinguish the winners in the competitive marketplace," he added.

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