Huntington National Bank 2004 Annual Report Download - page 5

Throughout 2004 we worked diligently to ensure that we ended the year in full compliance with
Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, including Section 404 (the adequacy of internal controls). In addition, we
strengthened our leadership and oversight capabilities by appointing a new chief financial officer, chief risk
officer, and internal auditor. Each of these individuals is already having a very positive impact.
We improved the convenience of doing business with Huntington. We opened seven new banking
offices with seven more planned for 2005. We continued to make investments in the systems and technology
supporting our Direct Bank customer service and sales call center. Last year our staff handled 20.3 million
phone, e-mail, or Internet chat contacts from our customers.
Our retail on-line banking capability was ranked #5 overall nationally (#1 in service and #2 in quality
and availability) by Gomez, a nationally recognized Internet services rating authority. Today we have more than
211,000 active customers using this channel, which represents 40% of our retail demand deposit households,
one of the highest penetration levels of our peer banks. We are adding more than 10,000 new users every
month, and more than 523,000 bills are paid and 1,000,000 check images viewed on-line every month. This
meets customer needs for faster information and lowers our expense to service these activities. Given our
success in retail Internet banking, we are excited about the implementation of our commercial on-line banking
capability in the second quarter of 2005.
We made investments in improving customer service, sales, and support in several important ways.
Specifically, we completed the implementation of our teller station system begun in 2003 and began
the roll out of our new banking office platform support system. The teller station system assures speedy and
accurate service for our customers at the teller or drive-up window. The platform system provides our personal
bankers with all of a customer’s information in one place, so they can quickly and more efficiently assess and
serve customer needs, inquiries, and requests.
The sales culture in Retail Banking is generating positive results. Consumer demand deposit households
increased by 12,000, much better performance than in recent years. The number of small business demand
deposit relationships increased by 4,200 clients, a 9% increase. In addition, our 90-day cross-sell ratios for
consumers and small business improved by 21% and 19%, respectively. We expect additional momentum in 2005.
We installed three new loan systems to improve the accuracy and speed of processing loan application,
payment, and portfolio maintenance information. These systems help us make more accurate, yet quicker,
credit decisions.
Between August and October, we relocated more than 600 associates in collections, loan operations,
and Dealer Sales into a newly renovated, technologically state-of-the-art facility in Columbus. This creates
expense efficiencies while providing additional capacity to accommodate future growth.
Though market conditions were difficult in 2004, our proprietary mutual fund performance continued
to be strong. Revenue rose 12% and fund balances grew 7%. Average revenue per licensed broker increased
17%. One of the equity funds in the Huntington Funds family received a 5-star Morningstar rating, with four
funds receiving 4-star ratings, and two funds receiving 3-star ratings.
Our trust business also performed well. Total trust assets increased 14% reflecting 17% growth in
institutional, 16% growth in corporate, and 7% growth in personal trust assets.
Product Delivery Improvements
Customer Service, Sales, and Support
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Other Performance Highlights