• Customers’ queuing time is defined as the time it takes for them to reach the counter from the back of the queue
• Ulster Bank commissioned a third party to measure queuing times using a mystery shopping programme. Each branch was visited three times a month. The mystery shoppers visited three different windows during the trading day - Morning: From opening time until 12 noon; Lunchtime: 12 noon – until 2pm; Afternoon: 2pm until closing time
• Over the January-June period a total of 4,254 mystery shopping visits were completed across the 236 Ulster Bank branches

• Ulster Bank operates 236 branches (including sub offices) in Ireland. Therefore ‘more than half’ refers to 119 branches
• We have conducted two types of training programme in our branches to reduce queuing: A queuing module delivered as part of our broader branch efficiency programme of 6 weeks’ duration; A condensed queuing training module delivered on a stand-alone basis of 3 days’ duration
• This training has been tailored to each branch to help staff manage queues and ensure that during busy periods every available member of the team is serving customers
• To measure our success in meeting this objective, we have included only the branches that had completed training by 30th June

To help protect our customers online, we have provided free downloadable security software called Rapport, from a financial security company called Trusteer.

This offers protection against a range of threats, notably phishing, malware and trojans. It also provides password protection, backed up with 24/7 support.

‘Fraud’ refers to any fraudulent activity carried out by a third party.

‘Banking with us online’ refers to any activity carried out using our Anytime Banking system.

‘Following our security requirements’ means the customer: must not disclose your security details to anyone else or record them in a way that may result in them becoming known to another person; must contact us immediately if you suspect someone knows your security details; should not leave unattended the device you are using to access the service while you are logged in to our website.

This objective applies to telephone calls to our published branch phone numbers and to our Anytime Banking service during opening hours. At busy times, customers may need to hold before they speak to a member of staff.

Calls to unpublished numbers, if not answered, will not divert to another line. Customers will need to call back in order to speak to a member of staff.

Between January and June, we surveyed approximately 17,000 customers who had contacted Ulster Bank by phone. We asked them “Was your query answered during this call or did you have to telephone the bank back?”.

‘A single call’ refers to instances when a customer’s query is dealt with by the first agent that the customer speaks to, or where the agent transfers the call to another agent during that first call.

The monthly survey containing this question is carried out by a third party on our behalf. The percentage reported is weighted based on branch customer numbers provided to the third party by Ulster Bank at start of 2011. The purpose of this weighting is to adjust the relative contribution of responses to make them representative of our overall customer base.

We commenced customer research in 2010 to understand which parts of the account-opening process we needed to improve. We also held a series of focus groups with the staff who open accounts to identify issues they had with the process.

‘Easier’ refers to an improvement in the application process itself; or a reduction in the time taken for the application to be processed and the account to opened.

The current account-switching team‘s primary activity is processing applications for customers who have chosen to switch to Ulster Bank from another financial institution.

From January to June 2011, this team consisted of eight full-time employees based in Belfast, who prioritised account-switching activity, although they also carried out other processing tasks when they could.

From January to June we surveyed approximately 17,000 customers who opened a new current account with Ulster Bank.

We asked them ‘How satisfied were you with the way Ulster Bank managed the opening of this account?’.

The responses ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ are counted in our final figure; ‘dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’ are excluded.

The monthly survey containing this question is carried out by a third party on our behalf. The percentage reported is weighted based on branch customer numbers provided to the third party by Ulster Bank at start of 2011. The purpose of this weighting is to adjust the relative contribution of responses to make them representative of our overall customer base.

From January to June, we surveyed approximately 17,000 Ulster Bank customers.

We asked them: ‘How satisfied were you that the branch had staff who were helpful’.

The responses ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ are counted in our final figure; ‘dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’ are excluded.

The monthly survey containing this question is carried out by a third party on our behalf. The percentage reported is weighted based on branch customer numbers provided to the third party by Ulster Bank at start of 2011. The purpose of this weighting is to adjust the relative contribution of responses to make them representative of our overall customer base.

From January to June, we surveyed approximately 17,000 customers who had contacted Ulster Bank by telephone.

We asked them: ‘How would you rate your satisfaction with the helpfulness of staff when you phone the bank?’.

The responses ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ are counted in our final figure; ‘dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’ are excluded.

The monthly survey containing this question is carried out by a third party on our behalf. The percentage reported is weighted based on branch customer numbers provided to the third party by Ulster Bank at start of 2011. The purpose of this weighting is to adjust the relative contribution of responses to make them representative of our overall customer base.

‘Appropriately qualified’ refers to customer advisors and branch managers being eligible to carry out customer reviews.

A customer review is a pre-booked face-to-face meeting to assess a customer’s financial needs and generate recommendations to meet those needs. Branch manager is the most senior role in the branch and is responsible for the overall operation of the branch. The customer advisor role is to provide products and services which meet customers’ needs.

In Republic of Ireland, this means that staff carrying out a customer review will be ‘eligible to sell’ under the Minimum Competency Requirements which means that they will either hold the QFA qualification, be in the process of achieving QFA and are under supervision, or are ‘grandfathered’.

In Northern Ireland, staff carrying out a customer review will have undergone internal Ulster Bank training. They may also have the banking industry MCOB/ICOB qualification, however this is not required to carry out a review.

Evidence of branch opening hours is taken from our intranet and from our public website at www.ulsterbank.com.

We can send text alerts to all phones able to receive text messages.

Customers could choose four types of text message: Weekly balance updates; Minimum balance trigger alerts; Maximum balance trigger alerts; On-demand mini statements.

The number of texts is the number sent by Ulster Bank, which may differ from the number actually received. This management information is provided by a third party.

The ‘working day’ has been defined as being Monday to Friday from 9am to 4.30pm, excluding weekends and bank holidays.

We aim to ensure that complaints are resolved by the end of the second working day after they are raised, assuming that they are raised before 12.30pm on that day.

A complaint has been defined as ‘resolved’ when the customer has been given a full and final response to their complaint.

The measure includes complaints related to all our retail products (current and savings accounts, credit cards, personal loans and mortgages) and includes escalated complaints.

Between January and June we surveyed approximately 3,000 customers who had made a complaint to us. We asked them ‘How satisfied or dissatisfied were you overall with the way your complaint was handled?’.

We considered the responses ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ to be within this measure; ‘dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’ were excluded from it.

The percentage reported is weighted based on branch customer numbers provided to the third party by Ulster Bank at start of 2011. The purpose of this weighting is to adjust the relative contribution of responses to make them representative of our overall customer base.

Ulster Bank commissioned two independent customer surveys each month to establish how our Helpful Banking programme was performing:

1. Customer Satisfaction Survey: Telephone survey conducted by a third party by telephone; where customers asked to rate their satisfaction with various Ulster Bank services. This survey includes 2,900 customers per month. Customers are selected at random but have to be aged 18 - 75, be a retail customer, and have visited the branch within the last 3 months
2. Brand Tracking Survey: Online survey conducted by a third party; where customers surveyed to establish the helpfulness of Ulster Bank, awareness of the Ulster Bank brand, and likelihood to recommend Ulster Bank. This survey includes 350 customers per month. Customers are selected at random but have to be aged 18 - 75, be a retail customer

• ‘Loan’ refers to lending products offered to Ulster Bank Retail customers – Mortgages and Personal Loans
• Our ‘assessment’ refers to the way we used the application process to assess each customer’s ability to pay back the loan
• We used credit scoring and an affordability assessment as part of the application process for personal loans. Income and expenditure was verified and documents confirming this were kept on file. The underwriting team in the Mortgage Lending Unit (MLU) manually assessed affordability for mortgage applications
• It was a policy rule that an affordability assessment must have been completed for each lending application. Exceptions to policy rules could only be authorised by the Head of the Personal Lending Unit (PLU) or their nominated deputies
• ‘Regular review’ of lending guidelines refers to a bi-monthly review of any amendments to policies coupled with a full annual review of all policies

‘Debt problems’ refers to customers who are in arrears. They could be in arrears on mortgage repayments, personal loans, credit cards or in their overdrafts on their current accounts.

‘Offer to help’ refers to our aim to provide alternative ways for customers to continue repaying their debts.

Customer ‘branch brochures’ are defined as all literature for customers, whether displayed in front of our branch counters for customers to pick up and take away, or held behind our counters.

‘Main’ refers to the 13 brochures we previously stocked in our branches covering our main Retail products – Current Accounts, Savings Accounts, Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Mortgages, Investment Products, Protection Products.

Our customer research consisted of an online survey completed by a sample of customers.

A personal financial review is a pre-booked face-to-face meeting. This could have been a meeting with a member of branch staff; a meeting with a Private Relationship Manager; a meeting with a Financial Planning Manager.

In each case, the purpose of the meeting was to assess a customer’s financial needs and give them recommendations to meet those needs.

Our target of 100,000 products referred to ‘kept’ appointments where the customer has attended the meeting; this was different from the number of appointments scheduled.

A customer review is a specific type of personal financial review carried out by branch managers and customer advisers consisting of a pre-booked face-to-face meeting to assess a customer’s financial needs and generate recommendations to meet those needs.

We revised the structure of this review, using customer feedback to inform its content. We rolled this out to staff in all branches from January to March 2011.

‘Each’ customer refers only to those customers who have had a customer review.

‘Available’ refers to the time period when the ATM can provide cash withdrawal services.

ATMs are monitored for availability 24/7. Our fault-management process automatically sends out-of-service reports and escalation reports four times daily.

ATM Operations have twice-daily conference calls with all suppliers to discuss existing faults and how we will resolve them.

This objective relates only to Ulster Bank-branded ATMs, but not those operated jointly with third parties.

A MoneySense lesson was defined as a primary or secondary school lesson given by a member of Ulster Bank staff to a group of school children (aged 11-18).

Note that where a number of lessons is quoted, this includes any lessons that may have been delivered by a school teacher who has registered for the MoneySense programme and assumes each teacher teaches a minimum of 20 students.

MoneySense for Schools has been developed by teachers for teachers. It has received the Quality Mark from PFEG - the Personal Finance Education Group - an independent accreditation body that recognises the highest quality in personal finance education resources. The programme has also received a 'Big Tick' CSR award from Business in the Community.

• ‘Branch’ may refer to a main branch or sub-branch
• ‘Only branch in town’ refers to a city, town or village in Ireland where Ulster Bank is the only bank
• Evidence that branches of Ulster Bank remain open and the branch opening hours are taken from our public website at www.ulsterbank.com
• Evidence that branches of other high street banks remain open is taken quarterly from their public websites. This also lets us measure competition in each of our locations

• ‘Branch’ may refer to a main branch or sub-branch
• Evidence that branches of Ulster Bank remain open and the branch opening hours are taken from our intranet and from our public website at www.ulsterbank.com

Ulster Bank’s Community Fund totals £500,000 for use in 2011.

All staff, both in head office and in branches, can apply to the fund, as long as its use follows our criteria. The 13 branch sub-branches can apply to the fund via their parent branch.

In our retail and corporate business units, there is a designated staff member who ensures that the amount debited matches the amount applied for.

All permanent full-time and part-time Ulster Bank employees are entitled to at least one day of paid voluntary leave each year.

This time given could be offered as a full or as part of a day. ‘A day off’ is defined as seven hours in total.

Where agreed, employees can undertake voluntary work at the weekend and claim back a day off in lieu (subject to approval from their local line manager).

‘Local’ volunteering is defined as time spent by employees supporting the work of charities, community groups and projects either through hands-on practical activity or fundraising anywhere on the island of Ireland.