For Immediate Release: Thursday 22 June 2000

SURVEY PROMISES TO OFFER NEW INSIGHTS INTO INVESTMENT FUNDS INDUSTRY

The annual Deloitte & Touche attitudinal survey carried out in partnership with the Association of Unit Trusts and Investment Funds (AUTIF) into the investment funds industry will this year be encompassing a much broader range of topics.

The additional questions posed will enable much greater analysis on issues including distribution, e-commerce and client relationship management. Furthermore, a separate investigation is being conducted into the effectiveness of the AUTIF member company web sites.

Anne McMeehan, Director of Communications at AUTIF commented:

"This extensive survey has always provided interesting insights for the industry, but this year participating AUTIF member companies can benefit from some real added value, as for a small charge individual companies will be able to benchmark their position against that of a tailored peer group."

She went on to say:

"The "mystery shopper" web site exercise has already attracted a great deal of interest among some of our members, who not surprisingly are keen to find out how they compare with their competitors."

Deloitte & Touche are still in the process of receiving questionnaires from companies, so AUTIF is still able to forward copies to those organisations that may have mislaid their original.

Key findings will be presented to participating companies at seminars later in the summer with headline analysis made publicly available soon afterwards.

For further information please contact:

Anne McMeehan, Director of Communications, AUTIF - +44 (0)20 7831 0898
Clare Arber, PR Manager, AUTIF - +44 (0)20 7831 0898

Notes to Editors:

1. The web site analysis will look at a number of measures including basic site content, accessibility and response times.

2. It will benchmark members’ sites both from the perspective of the 'person in the street' and the IFA and will therefore take into account their different service requirements.

3. It will, as far as possible, benchmark measurable features rather than be a subjective view of members' web sites.