Bank of America 1998 Annual Report Download - page 7

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calls for conversion in Texas and New Mexico in April, Arizona and Nevada in
the third quarter, California in the second half of 2000 and the Northwest in the
first half of 2001.
Third, we achieved our long-time goal of consolidating all our former
bank charters throughout the former NationsBank franchise into our national
bank charter, NationsBank, N.A.
This was an important step in our decades-old fight to overcome
Depression-era restrictions on interstate banking. We plan to consolidate the
charters in the western half of our franchise into our national charter as quickly
as possible. The creation of a single, nationwide bank charter throughout our new
company will enable us to serve customers without regard to state boundaries,
and also will enable us to eliminate redundant and costly administrative functions.
Finally, we achieved our dream of creating the first nationwide bank by
bringing together the two greatest U.S. banking franchises — the former
BankAmerica Corporation and the former NationsBank Corporation — to form
the new Bank of America.
The people who will make it happen. The real story behind your new
company is the opportunity we have to fulfill our vision for the future of banking,
the core values that will shape our decisions and our actions every day, and
the promise of what we’ll become for our customers, our communities, our
shareholders and ourselves. The Bank of America brand we are building will
represent unprecedented value, convenience and financial confidence in the
minds of our customers; a strong partner and an able leader for our communities;
a wise investment decision for our shareholders; and the best place to work for
our associates.
Of course, it is Bank of America associates who will make all this
happen. And, I am happy to report, my meetings with associates across your new
company have made me more confident than ever in our future.
In Dallas, we held our first senior management meeting in November, a
meeting marked by camaraderie and straight talk about what we must do to
achieve our goals. In San Francisco, Jacksonville and many places in between,
I’ve met with groups of enthusiastic associates at numerous events during the
past year. In Seattle, I had the honor of speaking at the Annual Seafirst Diversity
Dinner, an inspiring event that spoke volumes about our commitment to
teamwork. And as part of our Day One celebration, I spoke via satellite to
more than 20,000 of our associates in 36 cities around the world about
our challenges and opportunities.
1998 Letter to Shareholders
“The Bank of America brand we are
building will represent unprecedented value,
convenience and financial confidence in the
minds of our customers.”