Wells Fargo 2005 Annual Report Download - page 12

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 12 of the 2005 Wells Fargo annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 120

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120

10
Fortunately for our customers, every single one of these misguided
attempts has failed. When states and local governments announce
these lawsuits, they often attract significant media coverage.
But when they’re adjudicated in the courts—which have
consistently ruled in favor of national banks on these issues—
the stories are buried or not reported at all.
2006: The Economy
This coming year will be challenging for the banking industry.
Asset yields do not seem to account for risk. Credit quality
can’t get much better. The yield curve—the difference between
short-term and long-term interest rates—is likely to be flat, even
inverted. Banking competitors are, once again, relaxing loan
terms while not fully pricing for this risk. However, Wells Fargo’s
business model, now in place for nearly 20 years, focuses on
selling more products to existing customers and, therefore,
gaining both market share and wallet share. Perhaps that’s why
Wells Fargo produced consistent double-digit increases in both
revenue and earnings per share over the past 20, 15, 10 and
five years, which included almost every economic condition
a financial institution can face, not unlike those that may exist
in 2006.
The Next Stage
Once again, we thank our 153,000 talented team members
for their outstanding accomplishments and record results not
just for this year but for the past 20 years. We thank our
customers for entrusting us with more of their business and for
returning to us for their next financial services product. We thank
our communities—thousands of them across North America—
that we partner with to make them better places to live and
work. And we thank you, our owners, for your confidence in
Wells Fargo as we begin our 155th year (March 1852).
A special thank you
Two members of our Board will retire this April after a total of
three decades of service to our company.
Dr. Reatha Clark King, retired president
and board chair of the General Mills
Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
joined the Board 20 years ago when the
former Norwest Corporation had assets
of just over $21 billion. Most recently she
served on the audit and examination, and
the finance committees.
Gus Blanchard, chairman of ADC
Telecommunications, Inc., Eden Prairie,
Minnesota, joined our Board 10 years
ago, when we had assets of just over
$80 billion. Most recently, he served on
the audit and examination, credit, and
governance and nominating committees.
Their wise counsel and thoughtful guidance has helped our
company achieve remarkable growth during their tenures while
we built a reputation as one of the world’s most admired financial
services companies. Thank you, Reatha and Gus!
The “Next Stage” of success is just down the road—for our team
members, our customers, our communities and our stockholders.
It’s going to be a great ride!
Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman and CEO