Bank of America 1998 Annual Report Download - page 18

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unmatchable. We hold leading positions
in the largest, fastest growing markets
throughout the United States, from
California to Florida. This large and
diverse franchise makes banking easier
for businesses and individuals.
Bank of America is a market leader
in 9 of the 10 states expected to have
the highest population growth over the
next five years. These 10 states are
expected to account for more than
70 percent of U.S. growth over the
next five years.
As the statistics demonstrate, Bank
of America is one of the most diversi-
fied banking companies in the nation,
and diversification is one of the princi-
pal reasons that creating larger banks
makes sense. Bank of America has geo-
graphic diversity, product diversity, and
revenue and income diversity. These
broad enterprises and markets enable us
to achieve another important kind of
diversity: diversity of risk.
Our company operates a retail fran-
chise that spans 22 states and the
District of Columbia. This franchise
accounts for about half of our income.
We have commercial banking through-
out the nation and corporate banking
around the world. These businesses
account for approximately 35 percent of
1998 Bank of America Summary Annual Report
At the end of 1998, more than
one million of our customers were
banking online via the Internet,
America Online or personal
financial management software,
up 75 percent from year-end 1997.
our income. Finally, our private
banking, trust, money management and
principal investing businesses account
for more than 10 percent of our income.
To further diversify risk, Bank of
America continues to diversify its
revenue stream — complementing the
deposit and lending base by increasing
income from value-added fee-based
services our customers want.
Ask anyone caught in an economic
downturn about risk diversification and
they’ll tell you: put your eggs in many
baskets, not just in oil … or textiles …
or tourism … or mortgages … or just
one or two states or regions of the
world … because market cycles are
inevitable and they hurt if you aren’t
diversified.
Bank of America, on the other hand,
holds the promise of more stable revenue
and earnings (benefiting customers,
shareholders, communities) by
spreading risk across many states,
many customers, many lines of business,
funding, credit portfolios and other
factors.
The American appetite for invest-
ment services continues to grow, and
we are meeting customer demand