Bank of America 2005 Annual Report Download - page 16

Bank of America 2005 15
systems at former Fleet op-
erations were being converted
to Bank of America systems,
the bank added 181,000 net
new checking accounts in
the new markets, increased
middle market loans by
8 percent and deposits by
5 percent, and tallied more
than 2.5 million product sales
in banking centers.
In addition, our customer
delight scores in the former
Fleet markets had risen
approximately 13 percent as
of December 2005 from the
baseline established at the out-
set of the merger. “Delighted
customers” are those who
rank us at 9 or 10 on a 10-point
scale when asked, “Overall,
how satisfied are you with Bank of America?”
Bank of America boosted customer satisfaction and
sales while reducing annual costs by $1.85 billion pre-tax.
This significantly surpassed the estimated annual cost
savings of $1.6 billion pre-tax that we projected when the
Fleet merger was announced in October 2003. The success
of the Fleet merger was due to many factors, including
thorough market research that identified customer expecta-
tions, constant monitoring of customer delight, a judicious
systems-conversion strategy that minimized impacts to our
customers and our Six Sigma discipline focused on product
and service excellence and the elimination of errors.
As part of our commitment to the Northeast, we located
the headquarters of our Global Wealth and Investment
Management division in Boston, MA, and opened
a new, state-of-the-art customer contact center in
East Providence, RI.
When we announced this
merger in 2003, we said our
combined company would
deliver more financial ser-
vice capabilities to more
Americans than any bank in
our nation’s history. Making
good on that promise ranks
as one of our company’s great
accomplishments. Our cus-
tomers in the Northeast have
access to the broadest bank-
ing franchise in the nation
with a wide range of prod-
ucts and services under the
same roof. Our coast-to-coast
presence provides them with
access to more than 5,800
retail banking offices, more
than 16,700 ATMs and award-
winning online banking with nearly 15 million active users.
In all, our associates accomplished one of the largest
business integrations and systems conversions in his-
tory. The bank’s operational excellence—the ability to
execute operations flawlessly—made this dramatic growth
possible.
We are proud that every associate contributed to this
success—whether it was by working on one of the many
merger teams or in other areas of the company, continu-
ing their focus on serving and delighting our customers
and clients. From the announcement of the merger, to our
exciting brand introduction in new Northeast markets, to
our unprecedented product and systems conversions in
2004 and 2005, Bank of America associates throughout the
company worked together to build a shared future as the
world’s premier financial services company.
• Converted 21 million retail customer records
• Reissued 11.2 million credit cards and
2.4 million debit cards
• Consolidated 455 deposit products into
a simpler offering of 55 products
• Converted more than 800,000 small
business accounts
• Installed 20,866 signs in nearly 2,200
locations and recycled 140 tons of removed
sign material
• Logged more than 750,000 associate
training hours
• Devoted more than 5,600 associates to its
systems-conversion efforts, which included
5 million programming hours
• Completed one of the largest personal trust
conversions in U.S. banking history
• Converted more than 900,000 brokerage
accounts
For the Bank of America–Fleet
merger, the company: