CCEOC Inc. announced today that Scotiabank's Calgary Customer Contact Centre has achieved the prestigious Platinum level Contact Center Employer of Choice® (CCEOC) designation.

It is the first Alberta contact centre to be certified as a Platinum Contact Center Employer Of Choice®. Scotiabank's Calgary centre attained the highest level on its first assessment and joins an elite group of contact centres recognized by this unique designation. Scotiabank's Toronto contact centre also achieved Platinum certification in 2006.

The bank's Calgary site pursued the Contact Center Employer of Choice® certification to recognize the skill and dedication of its employees and help build industry-wide recognition as a great place to work. They also saw it as a unique opportunity to further develop their people focused culture and create a competitive advantage for attracting, retaining and engaging top talent. The CCEOC program's in-depth reporting and analysis has also helped the centre's management gain a deeper understanding of key employee motivation and satisfaction drivers. As a result, Scotiabank's Calgary centre will be able to develop even more targeted people focused programs and further position their operation as a market leader in service excellence.

"Scotiabank's Calgary Contact Centre's dedication to developing a CCEOC workplace and focusing on its employees has had a profound effect on employee satisfaction and engagement," said Jeff Doran, President of the CCEOC Inc. "The centre scored very high in the Management/Employee Relations, Training & Development, Environment & Facilities and Customer Satisfaction categories. Being recognized as a CCEOC identifies the centre as a preferred employer and one of the best contact centres to work for in the country."

"It truly is a great accomplishment for our team at the contact centre," said Steve Lukey, Vice-President of Scotiabank's Calgary Customer Contact Centre. "Everyone, from our front line and support employees to senior management, works very hard to create an environment we can all be proud of. This program provides great recognition, but most importantly, it will help us become an even better operation providing high quality service to our customers."

The Contact Center Employer of Choice® award is the industry standard for recognizing and branding people centric contact centres. CCEOC Inc. created this program in response to an industry need for contact centres to improve public perception and develop better work environments. Through a proprietary, three-phased process, a contact centre can quickly determine if they meet the qualification standards. There are four levels - Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Once the designation is achieved, the contact centre is profiled on the official CCEOC corporate web-site www.ccemployerofchoice.com, receives a prestigious framed certificate and is promoted through various media. In addition, the centre is now eligible to use the CCEOC insignia to promote their new designation and is invited to participate in future CCEOC events. Other organizations that have achieved certification include FedEx, The Shopping Channel, Grand & Toy, NuComm International, Neteller, Rogers Communications, Crawford Adjusters, CIBA Vision and Roche Diagnostics ACCU-CHEK to name a few.

About Scotiabank Customer Contact Centres

Scotiabank's Customer Contact Centres are located in Calgary, Toronto and Halifax and provide service and sales for over 100 products and services for retail and small business customers across Canada. Recently, the Scotiabank Customer Contact Centre unit was awarded 'Best Contact Centre in the Americas in 2006' by ContactCentreWorld.com. The Scotiabank Customer Contact Centres contribute to the sales and service delivery of over 7.2 million customer calls annually, both inbound and outbound.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With more than 58,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve about 12 million customers in some 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a diverse range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With $412 billion in assets (as at April 30, 2007), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York (BNS) Stock Exchanges. For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.

About CCEOC Inc.
CCEOC Inc. is an experienced team of contact center experts, academics and analysts who oversee the Contact Center Employer of Choice® Certification and Development program. Since 2003, CCEOC has delivered the program for regional, national and international contact centers. As a result, our clients have seen improved employee satisfaction, reduced stress, higher performance, lower turnover and increased customer satisfaction.

Our experts also work with corporate clients to assess, develop and advance their people focused cultures. CCEOC provides a wide variety of innovative programs to help build high-morale, high-performance operations. For more information on the Contact Center Employer of Choice® certification program or to find out more about CCEOC Inc.'s education and development services, email e-mail protected from spam bots or call 416 886-7007.

Contacts:
Jeff Doran                                        
President, CCEOC
416 886-7007

Deborah Spence
Scotiabank Public Affairs
403 254-6830