Bank of America 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

2Bank of America 2012 Annual Report
To our shareholders,
Three years ago, we started on
a path to make Bank of America a
less complex and stronger company.
At the heart of our plan was a
strategy to focus on the three
groups of customers we serve —
people, companies and institutional
investors — and to become their
primary financial services partner.
Doing so required that we focus along two fronts: we had
to strengthen our foundation and work through the issues
that arose aer the economic downturn of 2008 and were
obscuring the promise and potential of our company. At the
same time, we established a clear strategy to only do what
is core for the customers and clients we serve, to be the
best in those areas and drive growth.
In addressing those issues and executing our strategy,
we have transformed our company.
A strong foundation
We built a fortress balance sheet that gives us the platform
to accelerate business growth. We reduced long-term debt
by nearly $100 billion from the end of 2011 while maintain-
ing significant excess liquidity of $372 billion.
Our capital is at industry-leading levels. We ended the
year with a Tier 1 common capital ratio under Basel 1 of
11.06 percent, a more than 3 percentage point improvement
from three years ago. Although the industry has until 2019
to meet the more stringent requirements of the Basel 3
standards, our estimated Tier 1 common capital ratio under
those standards today exceeds the minimum requirement —
six years before full implementation. We have simplified our
company and we have more than adequate capital to support
our strategic plans. We are well positioned to return excess
capital to our shareholders and we believe that buying back
common shares is the best way to continue to drive value
for our shareholders.
Brian T. Moynihan Chief Executive Officer