J.D. Power and Associates Names Scottrade Highest in Investor Satisfaction for the Fifth Consecutive Time; Scottrade's Fifth Award is Unprecedented in the Online Brokerage Industry

Business Wire, Sept 14, 2004

ST. LOUIS -- For the fifth consecutive time, Scottrade, a leading online brokerage, was named Highest in Investor Satisfaction With Online Trading Services in J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 Online Trading Investor Satisfaction Study(SM). The study included 4,885 investors whose primary online brokerage firm was one of the 13 profiled in the study.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, Scottrade ranked higher than its competitors this year based on its significant strengths in a number of areas including trade execution and Web site capability. Additional areas of satisfaction the survey measured were cost, customer service, integrity and information resources.

"Proving once again that customers do not have to sacrifice service for value, Scottrade is pleased to set the industry standard for investor satisfaction," said Rodger Riney, president of Scottrade. "As a privately held company, Scottrade is committed to its customers and will continue serving as a benchmark for the highest level of customer service in the industry."

Scottrade, which has always kept commissions low while steadily expanding its network of offices to better serve customers, currently has 214 offices nationwide and plans to open at least 15 new offices by the end of the year.

In addition, Scottrade has hired a significant number of new employees to keep pace with its growth and to continue to meet customers' expectations for superior customer service. Scottrade has maintained profitability and growth despite fluctuating market conditions over the last 20 years and has never charged inactivity fees or other maintenance fees common in the industry.

Scottrade has also created new trading tools and platforms in a continuing effort to support individual investors. ScottradeELITE was launched earlier this year, providing active traders with even more tools and research to manage their portfolios. ScottradeELITE users receive the same low commissions that all Scottrade account holders enjoy.

"As Scottrade approaches its 25th anniversary, I couldn't be more pleased with what the company has achieved to date, and I look forward to continuing to serve our customers while growing the business," said Riney.

About Scottrade

Established in 1980, Scottrade (formerly Scottsdale Securities, Inc.) is a leader in online investing, serving individual investors who are comfortable making their own investment decisions.

Scottrade is unique in the industry because it boasts very low commission rates while offering easily accessible, local branch office support of online trading in 214 locations nationwide.

Scottrade.com is the online trading site of Scottrade and offers customers the convenience of placing market orders online for just $7 per trade. In addition to its online capabilities, Scottrade staffs each branch location with a licensed branch manager plus additional brokers and assistants.

Customers may place trades assisted by a broker or through the firm's state-of-the-art electronic order entry and account access systems. Touchtone telephone trading is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For the lowest commission rates, customers can trade stocks on the Internet at www.scottrade.com. Scottrade's trading site offers free Dow Jones Real-Time Streaming News for Investors and real-time streaming quotes and charts. Scottrade also offers a Chinese version of its Web site at http://chinese.scottrade.com, which includes research from CBS Marketwatch and Zack's in Chinese. In addition to Chinese-speaking representatives in nearly 20 offices nationwide, Scottrade has a Chinese National Service Center available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.