Bank of America

Bank of America

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More info of Bank of America

The Bank of America Corporation, also known as BofA, is an American mega corporation that offers financial and banking services in more than 40 countries around the world.

In 2018, it was ranked number 29 among the world's largest multinationals in the Fortune 500. Over the years, this financial institution has made several acquisitions and mergers to become the second largest in the United States.

Not surprisingly, it has a deposit market of 10.7%, 46 million commercial relationships with small businesses and competes with the other three big ones: Citibank, Chase Bank and Wells Fargo.

Its headquarters are in Charlotte (NC), Minneapolis (MN), New York, Toronto, London and Hong Kong.

Brief history of Bank of America

Its first steps were in San Francisco, with the appearance of the Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Peter Giannini in 1904. Its purpose was to help immigrants who arrived in the country and were discriminated by other American banks.

Supported by the Transamerica Corporation, the aforementioned bank would open its first branch in San José and later in Los Angeles the first Bank of America would appear. By 1929, this financial institution had 453 offices throughout California.

It was not until 1930 that Giannini merged the Bank of Italy with his other creation, giving rise to the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, the only one of its kind at the time.

In 1968, this bank would become BankAmerica Corporation, established in Delaware as a financial group. One of its first acquisitions, the Washington state bank Seafirst Corporation (1983), was one of the biggest mergers of the epoch.

After buying one of its largest competitors in California, the Pacific Security Corporation, it became the first bank to offer coast-to-coast operations within the United States.

Then came its expansion to New England with the purchase of the FleetBoston Financial Corporation (2004), which would further strengthen its internationalization.

At the beginning of the s. XXI, had some 5,500 branches, managed operations in at least 20 US states and managed corporate and investment services in several countries around the world.

During 2004, this institution acquired the National Processing company, which later merged with the MBNA Corporation, giving it greater control in the credit card issuance market.

In order to improve its position in the wealth management sector, in 2007 it bought the US Trust Corporation, an investment firm that had an important portfolio of clients with significant assets.

In the aftermath of the 2008 crash, companies like Merrill Lynch Co. and Countrywide Financial faced the prospect of bankruptcy. Bank of America took advantage of this situation to take over these entities, an operation that would cost a lot.

That's because the following year he had to receive $20 billion in financial aid from the government due to the Merrill Lynch problems and their repercussions.

Various legal situations regarding fraud, concealment of information and mortgage operations have led to a series of lawsuits due to his actions. This has led to the payment of some $19 billion dollars in settlements for investors and the US government.