Bank of America 2006 Annual Report Download - page 9

More than anything, it was client knowledge and innovation
that led to our $0 Online Equity TradesTM, which we launched
in October 2006. This product enables brokerage clients with
a deposit balance of $25,000 or more to execute online equity
trades with no fee.
The size and scale of our franchise in the United States
gives us a tremendous advantage, as evidenced by our sales
growth across products and channels last year. Active online
banking customers grew to 21 million, and active online bill
payers grew to 11 million — representing 65 percent of the
market of online bill payers with demand deposit accounts
at financial institutions in the United States. First mortgage
applications increased by 7 percent and home equity applica-
tions increased by 14 percent over 2005. Customers opened
2.4 million net new checking accounts, which contributed to a
net new account gain of 3.7 million.
A key differential for Bank of America is integration. Our
focus on integrating across the company enables us to create
value that others miss. We are working to serve customers’
needs in ways that draw on the power of all our capabilities. Our
associates pursued many cross-line-of-business initiatives
last year, but none was more successful than the partnership
between Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM) and
Global Corporate & Investment Banking (GCIB). By working
together to integrate the delivery of financial services to clients
with “core” relationships originated in either business, associates
in these groups generated more than a hundred million dollars in
incremental net income, proving that we can create value by work-
ing together on behalf of our clients.
Execution is a core strength. Our history and culture of
superior execution enables us to get things done right — on
schedule, on budget and in ways that enhance the customer
experience. In 2006, we again executed a large, complex merg-
er transition on time, under budget and virtually flawlessly
for our customers. This year it was MBNA and our Card Ser-
vices business. And our Capital Markets & Advisory Services
business proved itself a major player in the leveraged buyout
(LBO) market, participating in seven of the 15 largest
LBOs last year, including the two largest LBOs in history:
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and Equity Office
Properties (EOP).
It is the combination of these attributes that is enabling us
to fulfill our vision for Bank of America — and that enables us
to create opportunity and value uniquely for our customers and
shareholders in all we do, every day.
What’s on tap for 2007. The work we are doing in 2007 will
include hundreds of important initiatives. I want to mention
four broad categories of activity that cover most of them.
First, we are continuing our intense pursuit of growth
within all our businesses. These efforts include cross-line-of-
business initiatives that create value for customers by com-
bining capabilities across the enterprise, such as a universal
decision engine that will bring efficiency and consistency
to the credit decision process across a number of our large
The knowledge, insight and understanding
we gain from working with the
largest customer and client base in the
industry drive our ability to innovate.
Bank of America 2006 7