PNC Bank 2002 Annual Report Download - page 68

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report contains, and other statements that the
Corporation may make may contain, forward-looking
statements with respect to the Corporation’s outlook or
expectations for earnings, revenues, expenses, capital levels,
asset quality or other future financial or business performance,
strategies and expectations and the impact of legal, regulatory
and supervisory matters on the Corporation’s business
operations and performance. Forward-looking statements are
typically identified by words or phrases such as “believe,”
“feel,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “outlook,” “estimate,”
“forecast,” “project,” “position,” “target,” “assume,”
“achievable,” “potential,” “strategy,” “goal,” “objective,”
“plan,” “aspiration,” “outcome,” “continue,” “remain,”
“maintain,” “seek,” “strive,” “trend,” and variations of such
words and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs
such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “can,”
“may” or similar expressions.
The Corporation cautions that forward-looking statements
are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties,
which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date they are made, and the Corporation
assumes no duty and does not undertake to update forward-
looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from
those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future
results could differ materially from historical performance.
The factors discussed elsewhere in this report or previously
disclosed in the Corporation’s SEC reports (accessible on
PNC’s website at www.pnc.com and on the SEC’s website at
www.sec.gov) and the following factors, among others, could
cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated
in forward-looking statements or from historical performance:
(1) changes in political, economic or industry conditions, the
interest rate environment or financial and capital markets,
which could result in: a deterioration in credit quality,
increased credit losses, and increased funding of unfunded
loan commitments and letters of credit; an adverse effect
on the allowances for credit losses and unfunded loan
commitments and letters of credit; a reduction in demand
for credit or fee-based products and services; a reduction
in net interest income, value of assets under management
and assets serviced, value of private equity investments
and of other debt and equity investments, value of loans
held for sale or value of other on-balance-sheet and off-
balance-sheet assets; or changes in the availability and
terms of funding necessary to meet PNC’s liquidity needs;
(2) relative and absolute investment performance of assets
under management;
(3) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of
business initiatives and strategies, decisions regarding
further reductions in balance sheet leverage, the timing and
pricing of any sales of loans held for sale, and PNC’s
inability to realize cost savings or revenue enhancements,
or to implement integration plans relating to or resulting
from mergers, acquisitions, restructurings and divestitures;
(4) customer borrowing, repayment, investment and deposit
practices and their acceptance of PNC’s products and
services;
(5) the impact of increased competition;
(6) how PNC chooses to redeploy available capital, including
the extent and timing of any share repurchases and
investments in PNC businesses;
(7) the inability to manage risks inherent in PNC’s business;
(8) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings or
government inquiries; the impact of increased litigation
risk from recent regulatory developments; and the impact
of reputational risk created by recent regulatory
developments on such matters as business generation and
retention, the ability to attract and retain management,
liquidity and funding;
(9) the denial of insurance coverage for claims made by PNC;
(10) an increase in the number of customer or counterparty
delinquencies, bankruptcies or defaults that could result
in, among other things, increased credit and asset quality
risk, a higher provision for credit losses and reduced
profitability;
(11) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes,
the adequacy of intellectual property protection and costs
associated with obtaining rights in intellectual property
claimed by others;
(12) actions of the Federal Reserve Board;
(13) the impact of legislative and regulatory reforms and
changes in accounting policies and principles;
(14) the impact of the regulatory examination process, the
Corporation’s failure to satisfy the requirements of written
agreements with regulatory agencies, and regulators’
future use of supervisory and enforcement tools; and
(15) terrorist activities and international hostilities, including
the situations surrounding Iraq and North Korea, which
may adversely affect the general economy, financial and
capital markets, specific industries, and the Corporation.
Some of the above factors are described in more detail in
the Risk Factors section of this Financial Review and factors
relating to interest rate risk, operational risk, trading activities,
financial and other derivatives and off-balance sheet activities
are discussed in the Risk Management section of this Financial
Review. Factors relating to credit risk and liquidity are
discussed in the Consolidated Balance Sheet Review section of
this Financial Review. Other factors are described elsewhere in
this report.