2003 Annual Report: Raising the Bar for Large Companies and Institutions (Page 2 of 3)

As an integrated investment bank, BAS is able to provide its clients with a full complement of debt, equity and credit products that stand-alone investment banks cannot match. We also provide our services in a customized way that exactly meets our clients' needs. And we have a broad base of existing clients to draw from, including relationships with nearly all of the Fortune 500 companies.

Building on those competitive advantages, we took steps in 2003 to enhance both our talent and our integrated approach to client solutions. We continued to recruit some of the best financial minds on Wall Street. And we brought clients the in-depth industry knowledge they demand by realigning product specialists along industry-specific lines. This means that, regardless of what type of financing best suits our clients, we can offer them product specialists with specific knowledge in their industry.

By combining the highest level of industry and client knowledge with the deepest transactional expertise, we continue to be able to offer our clients innovative, customized and actionable solutions to meet all of their financing needs.