Bank of America 1998 Annual Report Download - page 4

2
To our shareholders:
In 1998, your company became a nationwide bank. We took giant steps
toward fulfilling our vision of providing a consistent and exceptional banking
experience to all our clients and customers throughout the world. And we unveiled
a new name and logo that will signify unequaled strength and leadership in the
financial services industry in the century to come.
In 1998, we became America’s bank. We became the new Bank of America.
As I said at our announcement ceremony last April, the new Bank of
America is unmatched in coast-to-coast market presence. But perhaps more
important, we believe our franchise is unmatchable.
Our company has the unprecedented ability to serve customers everywhere
with the products and services they want, when they want, where they want and
how they want. The creation of our new company was a turning point in the
financial services industry — with the customer as the defining element. Apart,
BankAmerica and NationsBank were the two finest franchises in North America.
Together, we are America’s bank — at home and around the world.
A new name, a new company. The question that looms over any merger —
particularly a merger of this size — is: Why? Why combine two seemingly healthy,
robust companies at the height of their respective powers, taking huge
cultural and execution risks to create a new, unknown, untested entity? It’s a
good question.
The answer to that question over the past ten years has had to do with
scale, breadth of product offerings and the slow deregulation of the financial
services industry. Scale has always been important as a way to spread fixed costs
over a larger customer base, but it has become even more important as the financial
services industry has become increasingly technology-driven. Our annual budget
for developing, installing and maintaining new technologies surpassed a billion
dollars several years ago. Without scale, such investments in the future would
be impossible.
A broad range of products and services has become necessary as
non-bank competitors have encroached further and further into a market that
once was dominated by traditional banks. And changing regulations have enabled
banks to expand not only into new products and services, but also geographically.
We achieve the dream of nationwide banking.
Hugh L. McColl Jr.,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
“Customer demands for greater
convenience and broader product
offerings created a need for the
kind of company we’ve built.”