Bank of America Corp

The Bank of America Corporation is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding entity headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with additional investment banking and supporting headquarters located in Manhattan. The bank was established through the merger of NationsBank and Bank of America in 1998. It stands as the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank globally by market capitalization, following JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is recognized as one of the Big Four banking institutions in the United States and one of eight systemically important financial institutions within the country. The bank serves approximately 10 percent of all American bank deposits, directly competing with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its principal financial operations encompass commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking. The historical roots of Bank of America can be traced back to 1784 when Massachusetts Bank was chartered, marking it as the first federally chartered joint-stock owned bank in the U.S. Additionally, another branch of its heritage dates to the U.S.-based Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided essential banking services to Italian immigrants facing service discrimination. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Giannini acquired Banca d'America e d'Italia in 1922 and ultimately operated as Bank of America.

In the 1950s, pivotal federal banking legislation facilitated swift growth, rapidly establishing significant market shares for the bank's predecessors. Following considerable losses during the 1998 Russian financial crisis, BankAmerica, as it was then known, was acquired by NationsBank of Charlotte for $62 billion. This acquisition was notable as the largest bank acquisition in history at that time, leading to the establishment of the Bank of America Corporation. Through a sequence of mergers and acquisitions, it expanded its commercial banking operations, launching Merrill Lynch for wealth management and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for investment banking in 2008 and 2009, respectively, which has since been rebranded as BofA Securities.

Both Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management maintain substantial market shares in their respective sectors. The investment bank is classified within the "Bulge Bracket," recognized as the third-largest investment bank globally as of 2018. Its wealth management division oversees $1.08 trillion in assets under management, positioning it as the second-largest wealth manager worldwide, surpassed only by UBS. In the realm of commercial banking, while Bank of America has operations, it does not necessarily operate retail branches in all 50 states of the United States, Washington, D.C., and over 40 other countries. Its commercial banking operations encompass 46 million consumer and small business relationships across 4,600 banking centers and 16,000 automated teller machines.

The substantial market share, business operations, and economic influence of the bank have led to numerous lawsuits and regulatory investigations concerning mortgages and financial disclosures dating back to the 2008 financial crisis. The corporate practices of Bank of America, which focus on servicing the middle class and the broader banking community, have resulted in a considerable market share since the early 20th century. As of August 2018, Bank of America boasts a market capitalization of $313.5 billion, making it the 13th largest company in the world. Being the sixth-largest American public company, it reported $102.98 billion in sales as of June 2018. Bank of America was ranked No. 25 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue and further secured the No. 6 position on Forbes' 2023 Global 2000 rankings. The bank was awarded the title of "World's Best Bank" by the Euromoney Institutional Investor in its 2018 Awards for Excellence.