Following a record quarter for adviser usage and activity on its Exweb portal service, The Exchange unveiled its new business statistics at a celebration party held on the evening of 18th October at the Soho Hotel, London. Key statistics included:

• 1 billion online quotations since 1991 - performed by advisers using Exweb and its predecessors, the Common Trading Platform (CTP) and Videotext
• Over 17,500 online new business applications submitted via Exweb in September 2006 - highest ever recorded
• 53% increase in new business submissions (Q3 2006 vs Q3 2005)
• 48% increase in total number of online quotes (Q3 2006 vs Q3 2005)
• 131,424 online new business submissions completed in 2006 to date

Progress Explained
The Exchange has made many improvements to its services in the past 12 months, following user feedback. This includes:

• The acquisition of 1st and integration of the Exweb portal with the Adviser Office solution - used by over 12,000 advisers
• Launch of 5 new and revised services including Pensions Term Assurance and New Business Tracking
• Enhancement of a further 3 services, comprising Equity Release, Annuities and Exweb Gold
• Remodelling of Exweb to improve the service and simplify navigation for users with an enhanced 'look and feel'.
• Completed an additional 7 integrations
• 30 free roadshow training events for Exweb and Officeweb users
• September 06 new business campaign, which included series of 8 user events and supporting marketing and promotional activity

David Child, managing director, The Exchange, comments:
"2006 has been a tremendous year for us with some major new developments and many 'firsts' for the industry, ahead of growing competition. Following the acquisition of 1st we completed the first straight through process integration ahead of schedule and this has inevitably contributed to these very strong growth figures.

" Reaching the 1 billion quotes target is a major milestone not just ist in the history of The Exchange but for the industry as a whole. Ecommerce usage is increasingly being adopted as an integral part of the adviser's business process and the more we encourage this, the more the results will be felt by advisers, providers and clients alike."