Wells Fargo Brings Wall Street to Montgomery Street
SAN FRANCISCO--Dec. 18, 2002--Today Wells Fargo & Company will unveil the grand prize for its WellsTrade(R) (www.wellstrade.com) Test Drive contest at its 420 Montgomery St. headquarters in San Francisco. Wells Fargo CEO and Chairman Dick Kovacevich will do the honors by handing over keys to a 2003 BMW 325Ci convertible to the grand prize winner -- San Francisco's own Marion Gothier, a 34-year-old video game animator with Big Ape Productions. The WellsTrade Test Drive is an online investment simulation that offers consumers the opportunity to take the wheel and experience the convenience and simplicity of investing online through WellsTrade, Wells Fargo Investment's self-directed brokerage account.
This isn't the first time Wells Fargo has connected its 150-year heritage in banking to Wall Street. On its 150-year anniversary in Spring 2002, CEO Dick Kovacevich took the Wells Fargo stagecoach on a ride down the prestigious Manhattan street to an anniversary event held at the New York Stock Exchange.
"While investing is not a game, the WellsTrade investment challenge is an expression of our commitment to helping individuals be knowledgeable about investing in any market environment," said Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo chairman and CEO. "We're pleased to recognize the winners of this investment challenge, which helps bring Wall Street to Main Street, exemplifying our dedication to empowering investors of all skill levels so they can succeed financially."
The challenge consisted of three separate one-month rounds, which simulated the experience of trading using WellsTrade. Each month, participants managed a $100,000 WellsTrade Virtual Portfolio and experienced market reactions as they would with a real WellsTrade account. Using virtual funds, investors at all skill levels were given the chance to gain valuable knowledge, experience and confidence before actually investing online with real assets.
Virtual trading began on September 3, 2002 and ended on November 29, 2002, with more than 30,000 participants over the three-month period. The grand prize winners, and second and third place winners, were selected through a random drawing of those contestants who outperformed the S&P in three separate monthly contests. The second prize winner -- a veterinarian from San Antonio, TX who just had her first baby last week -- will receive $25,000 in cash in a celebration tomorrow in Texas. The third prize winner, a 59-year-old grandmother of eight from Milwaukie, OR, will receive $10,000 in cash in a celebration tomorrow in Oregon.
"The investment challenge was a lot of fun and educational! I now pay more attention to economic trends, which is something I didn't do before," said grand prize winner Marion Gothier, who is originally a resident of Munich - the headquarters of BMW. "I can't believe my good fortune, because I just got my U.S. driver's license two weeks ago. "
The WellsTrade Test Drive provided individuals who are curious about learning more about investing, but are timid to start in this market environment, an opportunity to develop and practice their investing skills. Understanding that people may lack either the experience or confidence to take the leap into actual online investing, Wells Fargo wanted to make the process fun and rewarding and provide a hands-on resource to learn about investing.
Wells Fargo saw three different groups signing up for the WellsTrade Test Drive:
| -- | People who have invested online previously, and have been out of the market for a while looking for new tools and advice to get back in; |
| -- | The novice investor who needs guidance and education from a trusted source; |
| -- | The investor who has been in the market all along but is looking at the market in a new way and needs more tools and information. |
Focusing on delivering the most realistic experience possible, the WellsTrade Test Drive incorporated the WellsTrade commission schedule, stock dividends and stock splits. Additionally, all trades were placed online and used real-time market prices for maximum authenticity. Wells Fargo used the e-Learning platform from Simvest Solutions in the simulation, which provided participants with 24-hour access to investment tools, performance charts and industry news. The car was made available to the winner through BMW Concord.
About Wells Fargo & Company
Wells Fargo Online Brokerage products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Investments, LLC (member NYSE/SIPC), a non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. Customers who want to manage their own accounts can trade stocks, options, and more than 7,000 mutual funds online, and get access to news, research, free unlimited real time quotes, alerts, and watchlists, with 24/7 customer support. Wells Fargo Investments is the nation's eighth largest broker-dealer, with approximately 1,200 financial consultants in 23 states and approximately 6,000 independent contractors across all 50 states. Wells Fargo's online full-service brokerage is ranked #5 on Gomez's Summer 2002 scorecard, as well as #7 in Gomez's new ranking of all discount brokerage sites.
With a Single Sign-On to Wells Fargo's online financial services, Wells Fargo customers can securely gain access to banking, bill pay, mortgage, student, personal, home equity and auto loans, full-service and discount brokerage and credit card accounts. Leading technology analysts have said Wells Fargo's Single Sign-On service is the largest in terms of number of services available through a single sign-on, and Forbes highlighted the service in November's "Best of the Web."
Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $334 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,600 stores and the Internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally.
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