RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank) Selected By CEOs as Canada's Most Respected Corporation for 2002

Toronto, ONTARIO (Monday, January 20th, 2003) - The votes are in and the eighth annual survey of Canada's most admired and respected corporations indicates that RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank) is the most admired and respected corporation in Canada as selected by Canadian CEOs. This year's annual survey measured nine specific categories where CEOs were able to write in who they thought was the most admired and respected in each category. It is clear from this year's selection that RBC dominates the landscape in virtually every category, taking six of the nine with top marks. This represents a return of RBC to the top of the podium after having placed second to Bombardier last year.

These are the findings from the Eighth Annual Canada's Most Respected Corporations Survey sponsored by KPMG and conducted by Ipsos-Reid. The survey was conducted between August 6th and November 30th, 2002. The survey involved a randomly selected sample of 314 of the leading CEOs in Canada. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 4.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error will vary within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

For the overall Honour Roll scoring, a system was used that gave companies three points for each time they were the first mention in a given performance category (there were eight performance categories), two points for each second place showing, and a one point for a third place mention. An additional three points were attributed to firms cited in the question in which CEOs were asked to name their choice for the single most respected corporation overall. The final tally for each firm is the sum of these points, which determines each company's overall score.

The Key Reasons for the Top of Mind Selections . . .

Further, when asked why they had selected a particular company overall as the most admired or respected, the aggregate top responses were: "successful/financial performance/ profitability/growth/turnaround" (50%) followed by "human resources/good staff/management/employee relations" (17%), "innovative/creative" (16%), "social responsibility/community involvement/corporate citizenship" (16%), "shareholder/investment value" (14%), and "corporate governance / leadership" (12%).

And the Top of Mind Attributes . . .

CEOs, reflecting on their corporate experience, indicted that the following attribute was the "first that comes to mind" when they hear that a company or CEO is respected:

• Honest/integrity/ trustworthy/credible (53%)
• Successful/financial success/profitable/good growth (14%)
• Leadership (12%)

Canadian CEOs were asked to list up to three companies, other than their own, that they most respect in a total of nine separate categories. Based on the rank order of the companies listed, a score for each company was tallied for each category. As well, an overall aggregate score for each company was calculated based on the combined scores recorded in all of the nine categories, resulting in the 2002 Honour Roll. The winners for each of the categories are:

• Best Long Term Investment - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)
• Innovation and Product/Service Development - Research in Motion (RIM)
• Human Resources Management - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)
• Financial Performance - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)
• Corporate Social Responsibility - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)
• High Quality Service/Product - Bombardier
• Corporate Governance - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)
• Customer Service - Wal-Mart
• Top-of-Mind Most Admired or Respected - RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank)

The following is a complete listing of the most respected corporations in Canada as chosen by Canadian CEOs:

To view the complete factum including the listing of the most respected corporations in Canada as choosen by Canadian CEOs please open the attached PDF version of the Release.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900