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Bank of America (abbreviated as BoA or BofA) is an American multinational banking and financial servicescorporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets.[5] As of 2013, Bank of America is the twenty-first largest company in the United States by total revenue. In 2010, Forbes listed Bank of America as the third biggest company in the world.[6]
Bank of America provides its products and services through operating 5,100 banking centers, 16,300 ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking platforms. Its Consumer Real Estate Services segment offers consumer real estate products comprising fixed and adjustable-rate first-lien mortgage loans for home purchase and refinancing needs, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans.[7]
The bank’s 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch made Bank of America the world’s largest wealth management corporation and a major player in the investment banking market.[8] According to the Scorpio Partnership Global Private Banking Benchmark 2014 it had assets under management (AuM) of USD 1,866.6 Bn an increase of 12.5% on 2013.
The company held 12.2% of all bank deposits in the United States in August 2009,[10] and is one of the Big Four banks in the United States, along with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo—its main competitors.[11][12] Bank of America operates—but does not necessarily maintain retail branches[13]—in all 50 states of the United States, theDistrict of Columbia and more than 40 other countries. It has a retail banking footprint that serves approximately 50 million consumer and small business relationships at 5,151 banking centers and 16,259 automated teller machines(ATMs).
Expansion in California
Branch banking was introduced by Giannini shortly after 1909 legislation in California that allowed for branch banking in the state. Its first branch outside San Francisco was established in 1909 in San Jose. By 1929, the bank had 453 banking offices in California with aggregate resources of over US$1.4 billion.[24] There is a replica of the 1909 Bank of Italy branch bank in History Park in San Jose, and the 1925 Bank of Italy Building is an important downtown landmark. Giannini sought to build a national bank, expanding into most of the western states as well as into the insurance industry, under the aegis of his holding company, Transamerica Corporation. In 1953, regulators succeeded in forcing the separation of Transamerica Corporation and Bank of America under the Clayton Antitrust Act.[25] The passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 prohibited banks from owning non-banking subsidiaries such as insurance companies. Bank of America and Transamerica were separated, with the latter company continuing in the insurance business. However, federal banking regulators prohibited Bank of America’s interstate banking activity, and Bank of America’s domestic banks outside California were forced into a separate company that eventually became First Interstate Bancorp, later acquired by Wells Fargo and Company in 1996. It was not until the 1980s with a change in federal banking legislation and regulation that Bank of America was again able to expand its domestic consumer banking activity outside California.
New technologies also allowed credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to Visa in 1977.[26] A consortium of other California banks introduced Master Charge (now MasterCard) to compete with BankAmericard.
Notable buildings which Bank of America currently occupies include:
- Bank of America Tower in Phoenix, Arizona
- Bank of America Center in Los Angeles
- 555 California Street, formerly the Bank of America Center and world headquarters, in San Francisco
- Bank of America Plaza in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Bank of America Tower in Jacksonville, Florida
- Bank of America Tower in Miami, Florida
- Bank of America Center in Orlando, Florida
- Bank of America Tower in St. Petersburg, Florida
- Bank of America Plaza in Tampa, Florida
- Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia (the tallest U.S. building outside of NYC and Chicago)
- Bank of America Building, formerly the LaSalle Bank Building in Chicago, Illinois
- One City Center, often called the Bank of America building due to signage rights, in Portland, Maine
- Bank of America Building in Baltimore, Maryland
- Bank of America Plaza in St Louis, Missouri
- Bank of America Tower in Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Bank of America Tower in New York City
- Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina (The corporate headquarters)
- Bank of America Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Bank of America Building in Providence, Rhode Island
- Bank of America Plaza in Dallas, Texas
- Bank of America Center in Houston, Texas
- Bank of America Tower in Midland, Texas
- Bank of America Plaza in San Antonio, Texas
- Bank of America Fifth Avenue Plaza in Seattle, Washington
- Columbia Center in Seattle, Washington
- Bank of America Tower in Hong Kong
- City Place I, also known as United Healthcare Center, in Hartford, Connecticut (The tallest building in Connecticut)
- 9454 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California
