Bank of America 1999 Annual Report Download - page 26

Ask most people what they want out of
their banking relationship, and they will
talk about choice, convenience, service
and flexibility — not technology.
Where do you want your bank to be?
At home, at work, in the grocery store, on
the beach, inside my PalmTM organizer or
my laptop. Wherever I am.
How do you want to interact with
your bank? By phone, online, in person,
at an ATM , through the mail.
What hours would you like your bank
to be open? 24-7. All the time.
The Internet — and, just as important,
the digital technology that makes the
Internet possible — is a tool that helps us
provide more of what our customers and
clients want. We are using the Internet to
give customers and clients more options
and better ones, not simply a new single-
channel banking service.
Today’s online consumer and small
business customers at Bank of America
will find industrial-strength capacity and
capabilities behind their computer screens.
This competence is the result of a
decade-long effort to build a flexible
infrastructure that provides consistent,
reliable information across a range of
convenient channels.
Today, our retail customers can apply
online for almost any banking product,
including checking and savings accounts,
CDs, IRAs, mortgages, credit or debit
cards, and auto loans. They can access
account information, transfer funds and
pay bills day or night.
Our customers also have online
access to Banc of America Investment
Services, which offers a broad spectrum of
investment products including stocks,
bonds and mutual funds. Our online
investment offering is supported by
research tools and resources that enable
customers to make informed investment
decisions, and also to integrate their
banking and investing activities. Today,
more than half of all our customers’self-
directed trades are conducted online.
Our leading small business Web site
enables our customers to set up their
own Internet storefront, establish online
payment methods, find low-cost sales
and marketing services, obtain good
deals on products and services, as well
as conduct their banking and apply for
credit online. With a small business
customer base of more than 1.7 million,
we expect to continue to be the leading
provider of online financial and business
services to American small business in
the future.
While our customers are rapidly
adopting the Internet as a channel for
doing business, most of them still value
the convenience of using multiple chan-
nels, including telephones, ATMs and
banking centers. That is why we are
in the process of wiring our delivery
channels with Internet protocols, which
will give customers access to the same
personalized, multi-product, service-rich
experience regardless of where they are.
For example, future Bank of America
customers will be able to make a request
— a copy of a check, perhaps, or notifi-
cation of a drop in mortgage interest
rates — and have that request fulfilled
across the spectrum of delivery channels
in real time. The next time the customer
logs on, calls in or visits an ATM or a
banking center, the fulfillment of the
request — the check image, the mortgage
e-everythi
24
Every month Bank of America adds
100,000 new online banking customers
and processes 2.6-million online bill
payments. We also are continuing
to expand Internet capabilities for
thousands of business and
corporate clients.