With a proven business model and a disciplined management approach, E*TRADE FINANCIAL has paved the way for future growth in earnings. What remains is to fulfill the promise of business integration by better understanding and serving our customers, and creating the kind of compelling and differentiated solutions that will stimulate demand and, ultimately, revenue.
With a core online technology platform, E*TRADE FINANCIAL is well positioned to measure and analyze customer behavior and develop sophisticated segmentation strategies. What's more, our lower operating cost structure relative to brick-and-mortar institutions allows us to profitably work with investors with assets under $250,000 — individual investors who are increasingly being abandoned by full-service brokers, who cannot serve them efficiently.
With these advantages, in 2005 we will continue to focus on segmenting our customers more accurately and more diversely, developing new offerings on a segment-by-segment basis. This applies to both our retail operations and our Capital Markets Group. A new branding campaign will ensure that customers are aware of the strong value propositions we put forward. Our ultimate goal is to deepen the relationships, maximizing the product-per-household ratio for our customers. This is particularly true in the area of stock plan administration, which is offered through E*TRADE Corporate Services; this program has the potential to drive additional product usage by both corporate clients and individual plan participants.
