2003 Annual Report: Chairman's Letter to Shareholders (Page 2 of 7)

Growing the business, one customer at a time. In 2003, Bank of America was one of six companies in the world to post earnings of more than $10 billion. In surpassing this milestone, we increased net income for the year by 17%, revenue by 10% and shareholder value added by 49%, and posted a return on equity of 22%, beating our goals in each case. Our efficiency ratio for 2003 was 52%, close to our target of 50% and a small improvement from 2002. I hope you will review our financial results in the Chief Financial Officer's Letter and in Management's Discussion & Analysis.

These financial results are significant. They are the product of the hard work and dedication of thousands of associates whose talent and commitment to a shared set of values gives me confidence that we can continue to push our company to even greater heights in the future. I am immensely proud of our team's achievement. What makes me even more proud is how we got here.

For the past five years, we have followed a disciplined organic growth strategy, pursuing growth by attracting more customers and expanding our relationships with the customers we already have. The execution of this strategy has required a constant focus on the voice of the customer, product and service quality, and process excellence throughout the organization.

As those of you who have held Bank of America shares for the past few years know, we have sustained our focus on these priorities by institutionalizing quality and productivity tools and methods across the entire company. Foremost among these is Six Sigma, which is now being used within all business lines across the company to measure and improve the results we produce for customers and shareholders.