COLUMBIA BANK CHOOSES THE EDCOMM GROUP TO DELIVER ELDER FINANCIAL ABUSE COMPLIANCE TRAINING

(NEW YORK, NY) – October 5, 2006

Columbia Bank has chosen Focus on Elder Financial Abuse — The Edcomm Group’s eLearning program on Elder Financial Abuse Compliance training — along with Edcomm’s own Learning Management System (LMS), Learning Link® for hosting and maintenance, for its bank-wide training needs.

With more than 5 million cases per year, financial abuse of elders is the number one crime committed against persons age 65 and older. Currently, 17 states and Washington, D.C. have passed laws that require bank personnel to report suspected cases of elder financial abuse. Another 33 states recommend it. Revision to the Elder Justice Act of 2003 is in committee and is expected to pass.

The Edcomm Group has been a driving force in the campaign to educate bank personnel about elder financial abuse. Edcomm’s course, Focus on Elder Financial Abuse, is designed to help banks cope with the new laws targeting elder financial abuse by teaching front line staff about how to best serve their elderly customers while reducing risk to the bank.

Focus on Elder Financial Abuse is a comprehensive eLearning program providing training on issues related to elder financial abuse. The course covers: defining elder financial abuse and the laws governing it, detecting the red flags of elder financial abuse, and reporting elder financial abuse properly. Focus on Elder Financial Abuse is geared towards teaching participants how to identify elder abuse and how to protect both their customers and the bank, with accurate, compliant reporting.

Learning Link®, Edcomm’s full-featured learning management system has an open architecture that builds on industry-standard SCORM and AICC compliance, but adds features and capabilities far beyond any competing products. Learning Link® maintains a complete record of every learning and administrative activity and offers a wide variety of customizable, real-time reports available both onscreen and in CSV formats for download and integration into any HR system. Learning Link’s servers have been issued a SAS-70 attesting to the quality of their security, business continuity and performance.

For more information about programs like this, or to find out how The Edcomm Group can customize any training program, log onto www.bankersacademy.com.

Since 1927, Columbia Bank has been a well-recognized “financial friend” of the community, having been founded by some of Fair Lawn's most prominent citizens as the Fair Lawn Building and Loan Association in an old schoolhouse. With assets over $3.2 billion, Columbia is proud of its New Jersey heritage, confident in its capabilities and firmly committed to providing the quality banking services that the residents and businesses of New Jersey can count on well into the 21st century.

The Edcomm Group has had the privilege of assisting many distinguished clients with business solutions in the form of eLearning programs, classroom instruction, multimedia production and online and print based documentation. In addition to the development of customized programs, The Edcomm Group offers many banking specific off-the-shelf products such as Teller Training and Compliance Training that have proven themselves effective in organizations around the world.

The Edcomm Group is a 19-year-old multimedia education and communication consulting firm specializing in the development of creative business solutions that improve productivity, customer service and market share — providing bottom-line results. The Edcomm Group (www.edcomm.com) (www.bankersacademy.com) is headquartered in New York City with an Advanced Design Center located in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.

For more information, please contact:

Linda Eagle
President, The Edcomm Group
1-888-4EDCOMM
linda.eagle@edcomm.com