The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) and Wachovia Announce 2006 Pinnacle Award Winners

BETHESDA, Md., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) today announced the winners of the 2006 Pinnacle Awards, the most distinguished honors in treasury and finance.

"The Pinnacle Awards are one of the best ways to gain recognition for innovation, original thinking, and initiative in treasury and finance. This year's program has again drawn the best out of a host of very talented people," said Ed Banas, CTP, of the 2006 Pinnacle Awards judging committee and Treasurer, PayPal an eBay Company.

Jointly sponsored with Wachovia Corporation, the AFP Pinnacle Awards are presented annually to organizations whose finance and treasury professionals have developed innovative solutions to address cash management and financial challenges. The program accepts entries for and presents awards in three categories: Strategy, Innovation, and Risk.

The 2006 Pinnacle Award recipients are: * Strategy: Treasury as a Strategic Partner Deluxe Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota * Innovation: Leading Advances in Treasury and Finance Tyco International, Princeton, NJ * Risk: Advanced Risk Management Methodologies PepsiCo, Inc., Purchase, New York

For more on the winning solutions visit: http://www.afponline.org/pub/rec/pinnacle_award.html

"Innovation is one of our driving principles here at Wachovia, which makes us proud to be able to sponsor the AFP Pinnacle Award, for the tenth consecutive year," said, Arthur Scott, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with Wachovia's Treasury Services Division. "In an industry such as ours, it is important to keep looking ahead to find better and more efficient ways to use treasury services. All of these winners should be congratulated and admired for their creation and implementation of such innovative treasury best practices."

Ranjana Clark, head of Wachovia's Treasury Services division, will announce the Grand Prize winner from the three category honorees and present them with trophies during the Opening General Session of the AFP Annual Conference, in Las Vegas October 15-18. As part of the 2006 Grand Prize, Wachovia will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Grand Prize winners' charity of choice. Following The AFP 27th Annual Conference, AFP and Wachovia will present the check at a press conference to be held in the city in which the Grand Prize Winner's company or organization is located.

Winners went through rigorous judging by a team of senior practitioners from around the country. This year's panel of judges included: Tracy S.D. Howard, investment director, Anderson Corporation; Patricia Hui, CTP, treasury manager, Tektronic Inc.; Linda Zang, CCM, director of treasury operations, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Michael Howe, assistant treasurer, Devon Energy Corporation; Michael Buonasora, partner treasurer, Ogilvy & Mather North America; Dan Washburn, CTP, finance manager, Alliant Energy Corporation; Ed Banas, CTP, treasurer, PayPal an eBay Company; Kevin Talty, treasurer, Ohio State Treasury; and James Gilligan, CTP, manager, corporate treasury, Great Plains Energy.

About AFP. The Association for Financial Professionals in Bethesda, Maryland, supports more than 15,000 individual members from a wide range of industries throughout all stages of their careers in various aspects of treasury and financial management. AFP is the preferred resource for financial professionals for continuing education, financial tools and publications, career development, certifications, research, representation to legislators and regulators, and the development of industry standards. For more information visit http://www.afponline.org/.

About Wachovia's Treasury Services Division. As part of Wachovia's Corporate and Investment Bank, Wachovia's Treasury Services Division offers a comprehensive suite of integrated payables and receivables solutions, including electronic check conversion/remote deposit capture, accounts receivable conversion, a full range of ACH services, image technology, a national wholesale and retail lockbox network and international treasury solutions. In recent Phoenix Hecht surveys, 20 out of 26 of Wachovia's treasury services products were ranked "A" or "A+" by upper-middle and large corporate customers. Ten of the bank's key treasury product capabilities are in the top four for market share in Ernst & Young's survey. Wachovia's Information and Access product, Wachovia Connection(R), ranked first in that survey. For the second year in a row, Wachovia Connection was also voted the "Best Corporate/Institutional Online Cash Management Service in North America" by Global Finance, and the most recent Bank Leader Survey placed Wachovia's Treasury Services Number 2 for "Overall Satisfaction" and "Overall Quality of Customer Service".

Wachovia Corporation is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, with retail operations from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas, and retail brokerage operations nationwide. Wachovia had assets of $511.8 billion, market capitalization of $78.2 billion and stockholders' equity of $47.9 billion at June 30, 2005. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 13 million household and business relationships primarily through 3,126 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, also serves clients through 699 offices in 49 states and five Latin American countries. Our Corporate and Investment Bank serves clients primarily in 10 key industry sectors nationwide. Global services are offered through 33 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through wachovia.com.