Bank of America 2015 Annual Report Download - page 12

We have invested heavily to improve our risk management
practices, and we are committed to having best-in-class risk
management capabilities, because we know that managing risk
well is foundational to everything else we do.
We must grow in a sustainable manner
Building a sustainable company is about how, at the core of
everything we do, we are guided by our principles to make the
right decisions that will hold us in good stead today and in the
future. We think about this in a variety of ways.
First, it’s important to maintain focus on operational excellence,
and on the momentum we’ve built managing expenses. We
have made significant improvement in decreasing our operating
expenses. If you strip out expenses for litigation and LAS,
which alone are down nearly $ billion over the past four years,
expenses for  decreased more than $ billion since ,
and we expect them to fall again this year. This progress is
enabled by the investments we make in efficiency.
For example, over the last five years we have reduced our real
estate footprint by  percent, or  million square feet. To put
that in context, the Empire State Building is roughly  million
square feet. We’ve also reduced our financial centers by nearly
, as we’ve optimized our footprint. One example on the
technology front is the work we have done to reduce the number
of server models we use. We started with nearly  different
models and are reducing that down. When this and other
technology infrastructure efficiency efforts are completed in
, we will save more than $ million in annual costs.
We continue to identify and pursue this type of simplification
and efficiency, every day throughout the company.
Importantly, we have done all this work while investing in
growth initiatives and increasing our sales force. We spend
$ billion each year on developing new technology initiatives.
This is not to run the platform; this is all new development.
Sustainability is also about trust. As a company, we are
rebuilding trust that was impacted during the financial crisis.
That comes down to everything from how we do business,
to how we govern our company, to how we invest in our
communities, and to how we treat our employees. We made
progress in all these areas in the past year.
In terms of how we govern the company, we have a diverse
and experienced Board of Directors that provides independent
oversight. Our Board constantly looks for ways to ensure its
diversity and strength, and monitors corporate governance
best practices to adapt and improve when necessary.
In fulfilling the Board’s oversight responsibilities, our
independent directors appointed a Lead Independent Director
with responsibilities that exceed what governance experts
Through our Simplify and
Improve work, we are
harnessing ideas from
our employees to make it
easier for customers to do
business with us, operate
more efficiently and free
up resources to continue
to invest in our future.
Our directors are seasoned
leaders with diverse
experiences, possessing
sound judgment and the
necessary skills that allow
them to effectively oversee
our company. Our directors
are elected annually, and
we have adopted a majority
vote standard in uncontested
elections. A substantial
majority of our directors
are independent.
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