We regard every day as a new chance to earn your trust. It demands hard work, integrity and transparency, but that's what we do.
We have been through an exceptionally difficult period for the global economy and the bank. The crisis in global financial markets and deteriorating economic conditions across the world has weakened many financial services organisations. This situation was made worse for us, as some of our major strategic decisions were subsequently shown to be bad mistakes, making us more vulnerable than we would have been otherwise.
We have identified what went wrong, acted to fix the immediate problems and have set in place a sweeping restructuring and new strategic plan to regain standalone strength. This is the top priority of our new management team and Board. We are in a privileged position to have the support of the UK taxpayer while we restructure. That privilege exists because of our central role in the UK economy and society. That role brings responsibilities for us to change both the business we do and the way we do business; which we are already doing.
Our strategic plans will take three to five years to achieve, given the scale of the task and the economic conditions we face. However, we expect to make purposeful progress each and every year. We have already begun a programme of reducing our costs and aligning the Bank's activities to the reality of our situation.
Our disappointing performance in 2008 masked resilient underlying performance, and profitability, in all but one of our businesses. It will be these core businesses, across the world, but anchored in the UK, which will be the focus for us as we strive to rebuild shareholder value.
Throughout the restructuring process we will remain firmly focused on the needs of our customers. We know that providing these individuals and businesses with the highest standards of service and a commitment to do what it takes to make it happen for them, is the best way to retain their trust and loyalty.