Charles Schwab Makes Investment in Quris and Signs as First Client; First-Round Investment Helps to Launch Integrated ''Electronic Touch'' Services Firm.

SAN FRANCISCO and DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000

Business Editors and High Tech Writers

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., today announced it has signed as the first client for Quris (pronounced CURE-iss), a San Francisco- and Denver-based electronic touch services firm, and Schwab's parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation, has signed as Quris' lead investor. Quris delivers a blend of consulting, data analysis and technology services that support client communications and marketing goals through email, instant messaging, wireless devices and other evolving Internet appliances. Quris is unique in its integrated service model, providing clients with customized communications solutions from strategy development through implementation.

"The single most important asset we have is our relationship with our clients, and in today's wired world, that relationship increasingly includes electronic communication," said David S. Pottruck, Schwab President and Co-CEO. "Our customers trust us to make sure that those communications are as valuable and useful as they possibly can be. When searching for a service solution that shared that perspective, all roads led to Quris. We believe so strongly in the Quris model and the Quris team that we made this unique decision to be both investor and client."

"Email is currently the most widely used of the electronic touch channels, and it has proven its ability to develop customer relationships and drive profits," said John Funk, Quris' CEO. "However, very few companies know how to create and execute a strategic and comprehensive program that maximizes e-mail's ability to strengthen those relationships over the long-term. This lack of understanding will be magnified as new and evolving communications tools expand a company's ability to touch its customers."

Quris offers its clients a blend of strategic consulting, creative services and technical fulfillment capabilities that allow them to initiate complex campaigns designed to cement customer relationships. Their business model focuses on utilizing email and other electronic touch communications channels to add value to existing relationships rather than simply using these channels in support of new customer acquisition.

"We know that email is our most valuable channel for building customer relationships, and yet it is also the most fragile," said Gideon Sasson, President, Schwab Electronic Brokerage. "It is the most valuable because it can provide personalized, timely, fresh information to our clients at times and places when it is most useful and when they have asked for it. But its high value is based on the trust our clients place in us not to overload them with unwanted information."

Quris is currently designing, producing and distributing new email products for Schwab and is Schwab's strategic resource for new product development and testing, customer experience research and enhancements, data analysis and modeling, and technical integration consulting.

About Quris

Quris (www.quris.com) is the industry's first truly integrated electronic touch services firm designed to help businesses maximize relationships and increase the lifetime value of their customers. As experts in electronic touch communications, Quris partners with clients to provide strategic planning, creative and product development, data analysis and hosted technology solutions that are scalable and tailored to a client's unique needs and meet their mission critical business and marketing goals. As knowledge leaders in the marketplace, Quris' strategic and technology teams bring focused and multi-disciplinary expertise to the increasing complexity of building customer relationships. Quris offers the preferred alternative to limiting proprietary software products, ASP offerings and service bureaus.

Funded by private investors and The Charles Schwab Corporation, Quris has more than 40 employees in its Denver and San Francisco offices. For more information about Quris and its services, please visit www.quris.com.

About The Charles Schwab Corporation

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCH), through its principal brokerage subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., (member SIPC/NYSE) is one of the nation's leading financial services providers, serving 7.1 million active accounts with $865 billion in customer assets. Schwab currently has 3.7 million active online accounts with $418 billion in customer assets. Schwab provides a full-service investing experience to customers through an offering of the Internet, 362 branch offices, speech recognition, touch-tone telephone, e-mail and wireless technologies, multilingual and international services, and direct access to professionals day or night. (0000-7576)