Compliance Coach Partners with Acxiom to Assist Nation's Largest Financial Institutions in Complying with Stringent New Privacy Regulations.

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2001

Privacy University Solution For Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Compliance May

be Customized for Use by World's Largest Financial Institutions

Compliance Coach, the leading regulatory compliance resource and training company in the financial services industry, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq:ACXM), the global leader in customer data integration, to market its Privacy University (PrivacyU.com) product.

Through this new relationship, Acxiom(R) will use Privacy University as an additional tool to train staff about the new privacy standards. They will also leverage that training and knowledge to offer Compliance Coach's Privacy University and Acxiom's consumer preference solution as a best-of-breed complete Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) solution to the nation's top financial institutions.

Launched in November 2000, Privacy University is a comprehensive solution to help financial institutions comply with the GLBA privacy regulation. It delivers: the mandated training with a powerful learning management center for testing, scoring and reporting compliance; a privacy notice generator; and other valuable privacy resources.

Acxiom is already helping several major financial institutions comply with mandatory privacy regulations and is offering its AbiliTec(TM) software to help even more companies comply with the legislation. AbiliTec is capable of quickly creating an accurate, single view of a customer, something that is critical for achieving customer relationship management and maintaining consumer trust.

This ability to link consumer data quickly and completely across disparate databases in the institution creates the opportunity to not only meet the requirements of the GLBA but allows an institution to improve its relationship with its customers.

"We are pleased to have this new relationship with Acxiom," said Sai Huda, Chairman and CEO of Compliance Coach. "With Acxiom's consumer preference solution and the Compliance Coach Privacy University training, financial institutions will be able to better comply with the mandated GLBA requirements and turn the privacy challenge into a competitive advantage."

Jennifer Barrett, Acxiom's Company Privacy Leader, said, "We welcome the opportunity to work with Compliance Coach and Privacy University. Acxiom offers true customer data integration, which is essential for compliance with GLBA, while Privacy University offers a thorough training process, which is also a requirement of the regulation. Put simply, this partnership creates a superior end-to-end solution."

Compliance Coach developed its Privacy University product after hearing from the industry about a need for a cost-effective comprehensive training solution. During a national speaking tour with federal regulators, Huda heard from hundreds of banking executives the same concern: How in the world were they going to comply with the complex regulations and train their entire staff within the timeframe without spending a fortune.

Huda concluded there were no other products on the market and gathered some of the country's best privacy and regulatory professionals together to create Privacy University.

The landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's privacy provisions took effect Nov. 13, with full compliance by every financial services firm in the country due by July 1, 2001. The Act requires all financial institutions to develop and disseminate to customers a written privacy policy and allow consumers to opt-out of any information sharing by July 1, 2001. This represents one of the most stringent privacy regulations ever enacted.

Privacy University is a comprehensive regulatory solution to privacy compliance. It is a cost-effective, interactive and automated training solution for the regulatory-required training. Organizations that subscribe to Privacy University obtain access to the private, password-protected web site at PrivacyU.com and receive:

-- A library of comprehensive and interactive Web-based Privacy compliance
training courses on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and other privacy rules
(such as COPPA, FCRA, Identity Theft, Information Security, Canadian and
European Union Data Directive) for training the entire organization. The
training can be customized to incorporate an institution's specific privacy
policies and procedures, if desired.

-- Automated Privacy Tests to score and document Users' learning.

-- A Learning Management Center for automated scoring, tracking, and analytical
reporting to document an audit trail of regulatory compliance and measure
learning performance.

-- Separate training tracks directed toward management and frontline personnel,
along with audio recordings of previous privacy seminars.

-- Certification and retesting to establish and maintain a standard of
knowledge in the organization.

-- Automated Privacy Knowledge Vault of frequently asked questions and answers,
sanitized to protect client privacy and confidentiality.

-- Listing of Privacy Resources and Web Site links relating to Privacy laws and
regulations.

-- Online tools that help an institution create the mandated privacy policies,
disclosures and opt-out notices.

About Compliance Coach:

Compliance Coach, based in San Diego and Washington, D.C., is the leading regulatory compliance resource and training company in the financial services industry. It has been recognized by the industry for its' regulatory compliance expertise.

Compliance Coach prides itself on being "first" to provide the industry with timely, value-creating knowledge solutions leveraging its knowledge experts with the latest technology to minimize costs and mitigate risks. For more information, please visit www.compliancecoach.com.

About Acxiom Corporation:

Acxiom Corporation, the global leader in real-time, multi-channel Customer Data Integration, enables businesses to develop and deepen customer relationships by creating a single, accurate view of their customers across the enterprise. Acxiom achieves this by providing Customer Data Integration software, database management services, and premier customer data content through its AbiliTec(TM), Solvitur(R) and InfoBase(R) products, while also offering a broad range of information technology outsourcing services.

Founded in 1969, Acxiom (Nasdaq:ACXM) is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, with locations throughout the United States and with operations in the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Australia. Acxiom revenues were $1.03 billion for the 12 months ended September 30, 2000. For more information, please visit www.acxiom.com.