Bank of America or the Bank of America Corporation is a multinational investment bank and financial service company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in San Francisco, after the acquisition of Bank America by the nation’s bank in 1998, Bank of America, after JPMorgan and Chase, is the second-largest bank and financial service company in the United States and the eighth-largest bank in the world.
It is a part of the Big Four, which is the collective name given to the four major banks that dominate the banking industry in the United States. The big four groups in the United States are JPMorgan and Chase, Bank of America, City-group, and Wells Fargo. The financial services offered by the Bank of America include commercial banking, investment banking, and wealth management.
Foundation
The Bank of America was founded by the merging of Bank America and the Nation’s Bank. The founders of the bank being the founders of the former. Amadeo Giannini 1904 founded the Bank of Italy to provide the Italian immigrants with service and investment options without discrimination.in 1922, he acquired Banca d’America e d’Italia, or the Bank of America and Italy, originally based in San Francisco. In 1998 due to the Russian Bond Default, Bank America (as it was known then) suffered great losses that led to its procurement by the North Carolina-based Nation’s Bank for 62 billion US$ and the foundation of The Bank America.
As of 2018, it has a market capitalization of 313.5 billion US$. It is the 13th biggest company in the world. It is also the sixth biggest American public company ranked eighth in the Forbes’ global 2000 ranking as of 2020 and was also awarded the award for excellence and titled as the World’s Best Bank by the Euromoney Institutional Investor in 2018. It provides its clients with financial services like banking, commodities, investment, credit, lending, insurance, loans, risk and wealth management, etc. As of 2020, Bank of America has an annual revenue of $85.52 billion.
Owners of The Bank of America
Several partners own this Bank. The biggest partners and their shares in the bank are listed as follows.
- Berkshire Hathaway: Berkshire Hathaway is an American multinational holdings company, based in Omaha, Nebraska. It has 11.9% shares in the Bank of America. The company is led by its CEO and chairman Warren Buffet. The company owns several businesses such as Dairy Queen, Duracell, BNSF, Fruit of the Loom, GEICO, Helzberg Diamonds, NetJets etc. Berkshire Hathaway also holds significant stock holdings in several other companies such as, Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola and Kraft-Heinz company.
- The Vanguard Group: The Vanguard group is a Pennsylvania based investment advisor company. The company has under its management, global assets worth about 7 trillion US$ as of January 2021. It is the world’s largest mutual funds provider. Their services include brokerage services, financial planning, asset management etc. Vanguard group owns about 7.1% of stock holdings in the Bank of America. Vanguard is among the three big index fund managing companies. In the United States, also known as the big three that dominate the corporate world.
- Black Rock: A New York based multinational investment management company, Black Rock, Inc., is among the partners that together own the Bank of America. Black Rock holds 6.9% of shares in the Bank of America. It’s the world’s largest asset management company, managing globally assets worth about 9 trillion US$ as of June 2021. The company has about 70 offices in around 30 countries and clients in more than 100 nations.
Operations
Bank of America makes 90% of its revenue in the United States. In addition, the company provides the following services.
- Consumer Banking: It provides the consumer banking service to its customers that provides consumers and small business owners with banking facilities. Consumer Banking is among the largest divisions at the Bank of America providing the customers with financial services like banking, investment, loans, mortgage, credit cards etc. The consumer Banking division makes up to 38% of the total revenue of the company, which it earns through interest income, fees and service charges.
- Global Banking: This division of the bank provides services like investment banking and product lending. This includes corporate banking, commercial banking, investment banking, business banking etc. The division makes up for 22 % of the company’s revenues. It Operates its banking investments through the subsidiary Meryll Lynch that was acquired by the bank in 2008. The global investment services provide mergers and acquisition advisory, sales and trades in equity markets, capital markets etc.
- Global Wealth and Investment Management: Making up for 21% of the company’s revenue, Global wealth and Investment management involves businesses like private banks, investment banks, wealth advisors etc.
- Global Markets: This division makes up for about 19% of the company’s total revenue, providing services like risk management, market maker etc.
Divisions
There are three major divisions of the Bank of America. These are:
- BofA Securities – Formerly Known as the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BofA securities or the Bank of America Securities is an investment banking division of the Bank of America. The division provides services such as mergers and acquisition, trading, risk management, capital markets for equity and debt etc. Formed by the unification of the Bank of America and the Merrill Lynch and Co, in 2009, BofA securities, has its headquarters in the Bank of America Tower in New York City and operates in four geographical divisions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, North and South America.
- Merril – An American wealth management and investment company, Merrill, previously Merrill Lynch along with BofA securities, are involved in Prime brokerage and other broker-dealer activities. Based in New York, Merrill employs around 14,000 financial advisors and has around 2 billion clients.
- Bank of America Private Bank – Founded as a United States Trust Company of New York in 1853 and operating independently until its acquisition by the Bank of America in the year 2007, Bank of America Private Bank provides its clients with banking, investment, credit, debit and wealth structuring services.
Career Opportunities
They consider career mobility as an important part of its work culture. The internal mobility policy of the bank allows and encourages the employees to grow and progress within the establishment. A variety of Careers can be pursued within the organization that gives it quite an appeal among the job seekers. In addition, the bank offers its employees several leadership group programs and learning and development workshops to ensure their professional growth.
The bank conducts regular performance reviews that are not only focused on reviewing the business accomplishments but also for the employees and the manager to develop healthy work relationships where the employees are benefited by receiving productive guidance from their managers to enhance their skills and productivity and also work towards achieving their future goals.
- Skill Development
It acknowledges the diversity in skill sets and work styles each employee brings to the table. They strive to enhance these skills so that both the company and the employees can benefit and progress together. It makes sure that continuing education is always accessible to its employees. They make sure that the employees, regardless of where they are in their career, have the opportunity and access to the resources they need to possess to make a positive impact on their job and grow in their careers.
The employees have access to various instructor-led classes and even interactive training videos that have proven to be very helpful for the employees to pace up to their career goals. In addition, the company also provides the employees with several e-books and other resources to aid their professional development.
- Professional Development
It provides the employees with innumerable opportunities to grow across the organization. The Bank strives to support the employees regardless of the career path they chose. The employees are supported with tools, resources, and programs to help them explore their potential before they take their next big step in their careers.
They provide the employees with several established guide programs that provide support to employees. Bank of America makes sure that all their employees, whether they are managers, leaders, or even individual contributors, find support to achieve success.
Hiring Process
The Bank of America tries its best to ensure that the hiring process is as direct and quick as possible. However, to make the interview process easier for the prospective employees, here are a few things that the company expects the future employees to know before they are hired.
The prospective employees must know about the Bank of America, its businesses, policies, and the bank’s services. To get an idea of what it is and its business policies are about, the applicants can follow the bank’s social media or chat directly with them via the Bank of America events page. In addition, if a prospective employee knows an employee in the organization, they are advised to visit the bank’s referral page.
The applicants are also advised to check on the available career opportunities and the job description that would be best suited for their set of skills. They can do so by visiting the careers page at the Bank of America official website. Next, the applicants can click on Apply to apply for a job at the bank’s job description page, where the applicants will be able to upload a resume for the company to consider. The applicants may be asked to provide specific descriptions of their previous employment and questions about why they wish to apply for the job.
Once hired, the company provides the employees with several resources to get an idea of the company’s work culture and values to give their best at the job while growing themselves, making it a win-win situation for both the company and the employee.
