Bank of America 2010 Annual Report Download - page 5

3
100908
$73,976
$120,944
$111,390
100908
$177,052
$231,444
$228,248
100908
4.80%
7.81%
8.60%
Synergies provide big opportunities. In the past year,
our wealth managers referred thousands of clients to our
commercial and global bankers
— and vice versa.
With the launch of Merrill Edge, we can help turn millions of
bank customers into early wealth management clients.
a wealth management firm, a brokerage or a private bank. We serve them on an integrated,
customer-focused basis.
That’s our strategy. Deliver leading core financial products and services to these three
groups of customers. Do that repeatedly, leave nothing to chance, develop broad, deep, long-
term, profitable relationships, and deliver long-term value to you.
Operating Principles to Move Us Forward
So, we have a vision and a strategy. To execute our strategy we have outlined six operating
principles that will help guide our activities and focus our resources.
Be a customer-driven company What does it mean to be a “customer-driven company”?
It simply means this: We are making business decisions by listening to our customers and
responding to their needs and preferences.
Retail customers have told us that they want, and will pay for, value they can see and
understand. They value clarity, choice and a healthy sense of security and control in their
banking services.
We have taken a number of important steps to help customers take control. We eliminated
overdraft fees for debit cards at the point of sale. We created Clarity Commitment® state-
ments that spell out in plain English key benefits and obligations of certain products. We offer
deposit-image ATMs, and online and mobile banking technologies to provide customers with
more detailed and timely information. Our new Merrill Edge® account enables customers to
manage their banking and investing activities through an integrated platform. And we have
developed employee incentive, reward and recognition programs that align with our customer
experience goals.
These are important steps as we build a consumer business driven by profitable relation-
ships. Some of these actions have cost us revenue in the short term. But we also are working
to mitigate revenue losses, whether due to our own decisions or regulatory and legislative
changes. And, we are seeing immediate improvements in customer satisfaction, problem
resolution and willingness to broaden and deepen relationships.
In serving businesses
— from our millions of small business customers to our largest
corporate clients
— the idea is the same: We believe we can create more value by pursuing
broad, deep and long-lasting relationships. One very promising area involves our work to
integrate the way we deliver wealth management products and services with the work we
do for commercial, corporate and investment banking clients. Many of our business clients
need employee benefits management, for example, or access to global capital markets and
wealth management solutions.
These efforts are paying off. Clients consistently tell me how much more they know we can do
for them than our competitors. As a result, they are giving us more opportunities, and we are
seeing a steady increase in successful customer referrals across our major lines of business.
In focusing on expanding relationships, we exited several businesses that were not driven
by the core financial needs of our customers and clients. Overall, we divested assets valued
at more than $20 billion, strengthening our capital and liquidity position and allowing us to
sharpen our focus on serving customers.
Total Net Revenue
In millions, full-year ended,
F TE basis
Total Shareholders’
Equity
In millions, at year end
Tier 1 Common
Equity Ratio
At year end
Synergies provide big opportunities. In the past year,
our wealth managers referred thousands of clients to our
commercial and global bankers
— and vice versa.
With the launch of Merrill Edge, we can help turn millions of
bank customers into early wealth management clients.