2003 Annual Report: Chairman's Letter to Shareholders (Page 3 of 7)

We have been successful with this approach for several reasons. We committed to Six Sigma 100% from the beginning, made no exceptions and insisted that the result would be a fundamental and permanent change in the way we operate the company. We hired accomplished veterans from outside the company to accelerate results and aggressively trained our own associates in the discipline. We pursue new metrics to gauge the impact of our work, and we hold individuals accountable for results.

Those results are impressive. Since launching our Six Sigma efforts less than three years ago, we've saved hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses, cut cycle times in numerous areas of the company by half or more and improved the percentage of customers who rate their satisfaction at 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale from 41% to more than 50%, an increase of almost 2.5 million customers.

From a growth perspective, the benefits are clear. The cost savings and efficiency gains are immediately available to be redeployed in growth opportunities in the market, and improved customer satisfaction leads to increased revenue that also can be directed to growth opportunities. We are investing in these opportunities aggressively in all our businesses, from Consumer and Commercial Banking, to Asset Management, to Global Corporate and Investment Banking.

You can read about some of our initiatives and the results we are achieving in the stories that follow this letter. What these stories demonstrate is that better, more efficient, more consistent processes lead to better products and services, more satisfied customers and clients, more revenue and net income, and, finally, stronger returns for shareholders. The numbers are in, and the conclusion is clear: Our strategy is working.