Thank you, Dick. It's good to be here today.

I can tell by the conference theme—"Driving the Future of the Vehicle Finance Industry"—that you're in for a great couple of days. That's in large part because of Dick Mossburg and the other 16 members of the AFSA Vehicle Finance Division's Advisory Board. They are all busy executives with "real" jobs, yet they still managed to find time to help plan this excellent meeting. On behalf of the AFSA leadership, thank you for all your hard work.

I'd also like to extend a special welcome to any first timers who are here today, including executives from AFSA's two newest automotive members—American Honda Finance and World Omni. If you look at the screen, you can see other companies that have joined AFSA this past year as active or associate members. With the addition of new members, our trade association grows stronger—along with the industry's voice on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. We're pleased to have all of these companies on board and look forward to many more joining this year.

The primary reason for addressing you this afternoon is to wish you well at this conference and to tell you, very quickly, about a few things that AFSA is doing. In the early stages of my AFSA Chairmanship, I have found that one thing is already very apparent: the members of this association have a deep sense of community—whether it involves their own or one halfway around the world.

In response to an email sent the other week, AFSA heard from a cross section of members—from Independent operators to large national companies—who are supporting relief efforts to aid victims of the December 26th Tsunami in Asia. As terrible as this disaster was, it's good to know our industry is doing what it can to help. When you step back and look at what happened in 2004, it's clear that our association had a very full and productive year. Here are just a few examples:

• The AFSA leadership approved a new strategic plan for the association that I am pleased to help implement as your chairman.

• We also completed the development of a national standard for electronic contracting that's expected to save auto finance captives millions of dollars each year.

• The AFSA Education Foundation introduced MoneySKILL, a groundbreaking, online personal finance curriculum for high schools that's already being used in all fifty states and several countries.

• "Understanding Vehicle Financing"—the consumer education brochure produced by the AFSA Education Foundation and NADA in cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission—continued to generate interest. AFSAEF has now distributed over 200,000 copies in response to requests.

• The FACT Act, a new federal law, went into effect, providing consumers with new tools to combat identity theft. It also preserved the industry's ability to continue operating under a uniform credit reporting system.

• We halted efforts in several states and cities to implement overreaching, punitive legislation that would have put some mortgage lenders out of business in those markets and dried up credit availability for needy borrowers.

On top of that, the association held several successful conferences, including the Independents Conference and Marketing Forum in California, Investor Conferences in Amsterdam and Washington, D.C., a State Government Relations Forum in Florida as well as our Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference in San Francisco. We also began a new scheduling arrangement with NADA so that this vehicle finance conference is back-to-back with NADA's annual convention, a format that works very well.

While 2004 featured many accomplishments, it also presented challenges. Among the most notable were continued allegations of unfair financing for some consumers, particularly those who are African American or Hispanic.

In December, AFSA president Randy Lively spoke at a vehicle financing session at the Consumer Federation of America's Financial Services Conference. Based upon the questions and comments from the audience, it's clear that consumer group representatives still have concerns about certain processes in dealership financing—and that more litigation is likely in this area.

As Dick mentioned, you'll hear more about the criticisms levied against dealership financing at several sessions at this conference, including the one tomorrow morning with CFA's Steve Brobeck. I can assure you, however, that the issue of whether or not certain markets receive fair financing is also a very important one for companies that provide mortgages, credit cards and personal loans.

Also among 2004's challenges was compliance with the FACT Act. Federal agencies put forth a long list of rulemakings last year—with many more still come, as you'll hear tomorrow. The association helped its members by holding compliance seminars all over the country last November. Based upon the evaluations received afterward, participants found these seminars to be extremely helpful.

So what's ahead for 2005? I can tell you two things: one, your trade association will be working very hard to head off unfavorable legislation and two, when it comes to Washington, there are never any guarantees! Still, let me present a few possibilities:

• First, the issue of fair lending is likely to dominate legislative and regulatory issues affecting the financial services industry. In the mortgage sector, AFSA and its mortgage companies have been preparing for new data to be released publicly under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. This new data is expected to attract attention and to "energize" the debates surrounding fair lending.

  It's important that all of us in the financial services industry listen carefully to what legislators and consumer organizations have to say and consider what industry actions might be appropriate. Conferences like this one are the perfect setting to have those kinds of discussions.

• The current political make up of Washington could set the stage for another run at bankruptcy reform. As a result of November's elections, we have a Republican president for another four years. We also have an even stronger Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. With the start of the President's second term and Congress back in session, we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

• The states will continue to see a high level of legislative activity related to financial services. For just vehicle financing alone, AFSA's bill tracking system found over 150 bills introduced in 2004. The good news is that AFSA's state government relations operation has thrived since its creation only a few years ago—and is doing an excellent job in coordinating industry efforts to contend with legislation throughout the country.

• In 2005, e-contracting for the automotive sector will go to the next step. Under the guidance of Bill Ording, AFSA's new vice president of e-standards, representatives from various companies will work together to ensure e-contracting's acceptance by the Secondary Market. Bill will be telling you more about this in a session tomorrow afternoon.

• Financial literacy should remain a topic of interest for legislators and regulators. Plus, we expect even bigger and better things for MoneySKILL, the AFSA Education Foundation's online curriculum.

• Finally, membership recruitment is essential for the association and its vehicle finance division to continue to grow. The best way to bring in new members is through us—the current members. So I ask all of you to please spread the word about AFSA and what it's doing on our behalf. If you have any leads or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Again, my best wishes for a successful conference and a prosperous year.