The conference began with a session with the rating agencies. Representatives from Standard & Poor's included Lisa Archinow, director, Financial Institutions Ratings; Daniel Martin, director, Financial Services Ratings; E. Richard Schmidt, managing director, Financial Services Ratings; and David Blitzer, managing director and chairman, Index Committee. Representing Fitch Ratings were Thomas Abruzzo, managing director, Financial Guarantors Group; Steven Grundleger, managing director, RMBS; J. Douglas Murray, group managing director, head of ABS; John Olert, managing director, Financial Institutions Group; and Rui Pereira, senior director, Consumer ABS. Representing Moody's Investors Service were William Black, vice president/senior credit officer; David Fanger, senior vice president, Financial Institutions; Edward Young, managing director, Finance and Securities; and Robert Young, senior vice president, Finance and Securities.

Conference chairman Kenneth Fischbach, senior vice president of MBNA America, welcomed conference attendees during the luncheon, which included an address by AFSA Chairman of the Board, Ray Biggs, president and COO of Security Finance Corporation, and a keynote address given by Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of Bank One Corporation.

Later that afternoon, sponsoring companies presented updates on their operations and strategies to investors. The day ended with a welcoming reception and dinner.

There were 22 presenting companies, with three new presenters. The presenting companies were: American General Finance Corporation, Boeing Capital Corporation, Capital One, CIT Group, Inc., Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Ford Motor Credit Company, GATX Corp., GE Capital, GMAC Financial Services, Inc., Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Household International, International Lease Finance Corp., iStar Financial Inc., MBNA America, Morgan Stanley, National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., PHH Corporation, SLM Corporation, Textron Financial Corporation, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, and Washington Mutual Finance.

On Wednesday (May 7), investors had a chance to meet with executives from sponsoring companies during a breakfast and a luncheon roundtable. Sponsoring companies continued presentations during the morning and early afternoon.

After a breakfast with sponsoring companies, Thursday's events included more presentations from sponsoring companies and a closing luncheon with Steven Ricchuitto, U.S. Economist - Head of Research at ABN AMRO.

This year's conference also included the Finance Industry Library where analytical information from sponsoring companies, rating agencies and industry analysts was on display.