Corporate history
Before 1998, the Bank of America organization that exists today was known as NationsBank and was previously known in earlier years as North Carolina National Bank before being abbreviated to "NCNB" as it branched out of its home base of Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1998, NationsBank acquired San Francisco-based BankAmerica and renamed the corporation "Bank of America".
Bank of Italy
Many historical banks across the United States have been consolidated into the Bank of America. The most prominent is the Bank of Italy, founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904 based on catering to immigrants. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires.
In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair.
Growth in California
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. 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, which was 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.
These technologies also enabled credit cards to be linked directly to individual bank accounts. In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1975.[6] A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard) in order to compete with BankAmericard.
Expansion outside of California
Bank of America Corporate Center, located in the center of uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.Following the passage of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1967, BankAmerica Corporation was established for the purpose of owning Bank of America and its subsidiaries.
BankAmerica expanded outside California in 1983 with its acquisition of Seafirst Corporation of Seattle, Washington, and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Seattle-First National Bank. Seafirst was at risk of seizure by the federal government after becoming insolvent due to a series of bad loans to the oil industry. BankAmerica continued to operate its new subsidiary as Seafirst rather than Bank of America until the 1998 merger with NationsBank.
BankAmerica was dealt huge losses in 1986 and 1987 by the placement of a series of bad loans in the Third World, particularly in Latin America. The company fired its CEO, Sam Armacost. Though Armacost blamed the problems on his predecessor, A.W. (Tom) Clausen, Clausen was appointed to replace Armacost. The losses resulted in a huge decline of BankAmerica stock, making it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. First Interstate Bancorp of Los Angeles (which had originated from banks once owned by BankAmerica), launched such a bid in the fall of 1986, although BankAmerica rebuffed it, mostly by selling its FinanceAmerica subsidiary to Chrysler, and by selling the brokerage firm Charles Schwab and Co. back to Mr. Schwab. By the time of the 1987 stock market crash, BankAmerica's share price had fallen to $8, but by 1992 it had rebounded mightily to become one of the biggest gainers of that half-decade.
BankAmerica's next big acquisition came in 1992. The company acquired its California rival, Security Pacific Corporation and its subsidiary Security Pacific National Bank in California and other banks in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (which Security Pacific had acquired in a series of acquisitions in the late 1980s). This was, at the time, the largest bank acquisition in history. Federal regulators, however, forced the sale of Security Pacific's Washington subsidiary, Rainier Bank, as the combination of Seafirst and Rainier would have given BankAmerica too large a share of the market in that state. Later that year, BankAmerica expanded into Nevada by acquiring Valley Bank of Nevada.
In 1994, BankAmerica acquired the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago, which had become federally owned as part of the same oil industry debacle emanating from Oklahoma City's Penn Square Bank, that had brought down numerous financial institutions including Seafirst. At the time, no bank had the resources to bail out Continental, so the federal government operated the bank for nearly a decade. Illinois at that time regulated branch banking extremely heavily, so Bank of America Illinois was a single-unit bank until the 21st century. BankAmerica moved its national lending department to Chicago in an effort to establish a financial beachhead in the region.
These mergers helped BankAmerica Corporation to once again become the largest U.S. bank holding company in terms of deposits, but the company fell to second place in 1997 behind fast-growing NationsBank Corporation, and to third in 1998 behind North Carolina's First Union Corp. In 1998, BankAmerica was purchased by NC-based NationsBank, and changed the headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina.
History since 1998
In 2001, Bank of America CEO and chairman Hugh McColl stepped down and named Ken Lewis as his successor. Lewis's greater focus on financial discipline and efficiency contrasted greatly with the expansionary mergers and acquisition strategy of his predecessor.
Acquisition of National Processing Company
In 2004, Bank of America purchased Louisville, Kentucky-based National Processing Company for $1.4 billion from National City Corp. The company was renamed BA Merchant Services. The company provides financial solutions for travel and healthcare companies. BA Merchant Services is headquartered in Louisville, with a call center in El Paso, Texas.
FleetBoston Financial merger
Also in 2004, Bank of America acquired Boston, Massachusetts-based FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in an all-stock deal to solidify Bank of America's position as the bank with the largest FDIC-rated deposit market share in the United States with $513 billion in deposits, well ahead of the number two bank holding company, newly-merged JPMorgan Chase-Bank One with $353 billion in deposits and number three Wells Fargo & Co. with $228 billion (as of 30 June 2003). This acquisition gave Bank of America access to the northeastern market.
Purchase of MBNA
In 2005, Bank of America was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.[7] [8] [9]
On 30 June 2005, Bank of America announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. The Federal Reserve Board gave final approval to the merger on 15 December 2005, and the merger closed on 1 January 2006. The acquisition of MBNA provided Bank of America a leading credit card issuer at home and abroad. The combined Bank of America Card Services organization, including the former MBNA—had more than 40 million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances.
Divestiture of operations in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay
In May 2006, Bank of America and Banco Itaú (Investimentos Ita S.A.) entered into an acquisition agreement through which Itaú agreed to acquire BankBoston's operations in Brazil and was granted an exclusive right to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. A deal was signed in August 2006 under which Itaú agreed to purchase Bank of America's operations in Chile and Uruguay. Prior to the transaction, BankBoston's Brazilian operations included asset management, private banking, a credit card portfolio, and small, middle-market, and large corporate segments. It had 66 branches and 203,000 clients in Brazil. BankBoston in Chile had 44 branches and 58,000 clients and in Uruguay it had 15 branches. In addition, there was a credit card company, OCA, in Uruguay, which had 23 branches. BankBoston N.A. in Uruguay, together with OCA, jointly served 372,000 clients. While the BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction, as part of the sale agreement, they cannot be used by Bank of America in Brazil, Chile or Uruguay following the transactions. Hence, the BankBoston name has disappeared from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The Itaú stock received by Bank of America in the transactions has allowed Bank of America's stake in Itaú to reach 11.51%. Banco Boston do Brazil had been founded in 1947.
Purchase of US Trust
On 20 November 2006, Bank of America announced the purchase of The United States Trust Company for $3.3 billion, from the Charles Schwab Corporation. US Trust had about $100 billion of AUM and over 150 years of experience. The deal closed 1 July 2007.[10]
Acquisition of ABN Amro North America and LaSalle Bank
On September 14, 2007, Bank of America won approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire ABN Amro North America, LaSalle Bank Corporation and LaSalle Corporate Finance from ABN AMRO for $21 billion. With this combination Bank of America will have 1.7 trillion in assets. A Dutch court blocked the sale until it was later approved in July. The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2007.
The deal increased Bank of America's presence in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana by 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs. Bank of America has become the largest bank in the Chicago market with 197 offices and 14% of the deposit share, passing up JPMorgan Chase.
LaSalle Bank and LaSalle Bank Midwest branches adopted the Bank of America name on 5 May 2008.[11]
Acquisition of Countrywide Financial
On August 23, 2007 the company announced a $2 billion repurchase agreement for Countrywide Financial. This purchase of preferred stock was arranged to provide a return on investment of 7.25% per annum and provided the option to purchase common stock at a price of $18 per share.[12]
Following that initial investment, on January 11, 2008 Bank of America announced that they would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion.[13] This acquisition will give the bank a substantial market share of the mortgage business, and access to Countrywide's expertise, technology, and employees for servicing mortgages.[14] The acquisition also is seen as preventing the potential of bankruptcy for Countrywide. Countrywide has denied that it is close to bankruptcy. Countrywide provides mortgage servicing for nine million mortgages valued at $1.4 trillion USD as of December 31, 2007.[15] However, Countrywide under FBI investigation due to possible fraud in home loan and mortages, therefore Bank of America states by 2009 they will be "offically" affiliated to Countrywide
Bank of America divisions
Bank of America ATM
Typical Bank of America local officeBank of America generates 90% of its revenues in its domestic market and continues to buy businesses in the US. The core of Bank of America's strategy is to be the number one bank in its domestic market. It has achieved this through key acquisitions.[17]
Consumer
Global Consumer and Small Business Banking (GC&SBB) is the largest division in the company, and deals primarily with consumer banking and credit card issuance. The acquisition of FleetBoston and MBNA significantly expanded its size and range of services, resulting in about 51% of the company's total revenue in 2005. It competes directly with the retail banking divisions of Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The GC&SBB organization includes over 5,700 retail branches and over 17,000 ATMs across the United States.
Bank of America is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand).[18] This however does not include cash advances or any of their credit card services which when used abroad deduct a 3% transaction fee and a 3% cash advance fee on top of the currency transaction fee.
Corporate
Global Corporate and Investment Banking (GCIB), also known as Banc of America Securities LLC, provides mergers and acquisitions advisory, underwriting, capital markets, as well as sales & trading in fixed income and equities markets. Its strongest groups include Leveraged Finance, Syndicated Loans, and mortgage-backed securities. It also has one of the largest research teams on Wall Street. Banc of America Securities LLC is based in New York City, with major offices also located in Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Mumbai. Ken Lewis, the ambitious chief executive who masterminded the bank's expansion into exotic new businesses including GCIB, bluntly ruled out any further acquisitions in its investment banking division. "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking at the moment," he told analysts.
Investment managementGlobal Wealth and Investment Management manages assets of institutions and individuals. It is among the 10 largest U.S. wealth managers (ranked by private banking assets under management in accounts of $1 million or more as of June 30, 2005). In July 2006, Chairman Ken Lewis announced that GWIM's total assets under management exceeded $500 billion. GWIM has five primary lines of business: Premier Banking & Investments (including Bank of America Investment Services, Inc.), The Private Bank, Family Wealth Advisors, Columbia Management Group, and Banc of America Specialist.
Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. "Bank of America already has excellent relationships with the corporate and financial institutions world. Its clients include 98% of the Fortune 500 companies in the US and 79% of the Global Fortune 500. These relationships, as well as a balance sheet that most banks would kill for, are the foundations for a lofty ambition."[19]
Bank of America is currently constructing a massive new headquarters for its New York City operations. The skyscaper will be located on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas, at Bryant Park, and will feature state of the art, environmentally-friendly technology throughout its 1.2 million square feet (111,484 m²) of office space. The building will be the headquarters for the company's investment banking division, and will also host most of Bank of America's New York-based staff.
International operations
In 2005, Bank of America acquired a 9% stake in China Construction Bank, China's second largest bank, for $3 billion.[20] It represented the company's largest foray into China's growing banking sector. Bank of America currently has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and is looking to greatly expand its Chinese business as a result of this deal.
Bank of America has invested in India as an emerging market. Currently, Bank of America maintains branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, New Delhi and Bangalore. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 Bank of America reported an 80% increase in net profit.[21]
Bank of America operated under the name BankBoston in many other Latin American countries, including Brazil. In 2006, Bank of America sold all BankBoston's operations to Brazilian bank Banco Itaú, in exchange for Itaú shares. The BankBoston name and trademarks were not part of the transaction and, as part of the sale agreement, cannot be used by Bank of America. (That meant the extinction of the BankBoston brand.)
Bank of America's Global Corporate and Investment Banking spans the Globe with divisions in United States, Europe and Asia. The U.S. headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong.
Financial data
Financial data[22] in $ millions Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Revenue Net of Interest 35,082 38,529 49,610 56,923 74,247
EBITDA 18,654 16,722 21,885 29,490 35,597
Net profit 9,249 10,810 13,947 16,465 21,133
Staff NA NA 176,000 176,638 203,000
Corporate governance
Directors
William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Barnet Company
Frank P. Bramble Sr, Former Executive Officer, MBNA Corporation
John T. Collins, Chief Executive Officer, The Collins Group
Gary L. Countryman, Chairman Emeritus, Liberty Mutual Group
Tommy Franks, Retired General, United States Army
Charles K. Gifford, Former Chairman, Bank of America Corporation
W. Steven Jones, Dean, Kenan-Flagler Business School University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America Corporation
Joe L. Price, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Bank of America Corporation
Monica C Lozano, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of La Opinion
Walter E. Massey, President Emeritus, Morehouse College
Thomas J. May, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, NSTAR
Patricia E. Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Paley Center for Media
Thomas M. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer, CVS/Caremark Corporation
O. Temple Sloan, Jr., Chairman, General Parts International
Meredith R. Spangler, Trustee and Board Member
Robert L. Tillman, Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Lowe's
Jackie M. Ward, Retired Chairman/CEO, Computer Generation
Social responsibility
In addition to its new eco-friendly office tower in Manhattan, Bank of America has pledged to spend billions on commercial lending and investment banking for projects that it considers "green." The corporation, which already supplied all of its employees with cash incentives to buy hybrid vehicles, is also helping its customers be eco-friendly by rolling out a new credit card program in 2007 that would donate money to helping the environment, as well as providing mortgage loan breaks for customers whose homes qualified as energy efficient.[23]
Bank of America has also donated money to help health centers in Massachusetts[24] and made donations to help homeless shelters in Miami.[25]
In 2004 the bank pledged $750 billion over a ten-year period for community development lending and investment. The company had delivered more than $230 billion against a ten-year commitment of $350 billion made in 1998 to provide affordable mortgage, build affordable housing, support small business and create jobs in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Diversity and inclusion
Bank of America in Washington, D.C.Bank of America was named for the 19th year as one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2007 by Working Mother magazine. In 2006 Bank of America was one of the first companies inducted into Working Mother magazine's Hall of Fame.
In 2007, DiversityInc ranked Bank of America as the number one company for diversity in this prestigious list and placed as a top employer for executive women, Hispanics, Asian Americans and for GLBT executives, as well as number one for recruitment and retention, and number six for supplier diversity.
IT Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) recognized Bank of America as the "2007 Organization of the Year." This award is presented annually for leadership in the areas of developing and embracing a diverse workforce.
National Black MBA Association awarded Bank of America the "2006 Company of the Year" for recruiting, retaining and providing advancement opportunities for blacks in the workplace. It also recognized Bank of America's Managing Director, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking Lewis Warren, Jr. as one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street."
Bank of America was named the number one company for Hispanics by Hispanics Business Magazine in 2006. LATINA Style Magazine continues to rank Bank of America in their Top 15 for its "50 Best Companies for Latinas" which measures companies based on recruitment, retention and advancement opportunities for Latinas.
Human Rights Campaign 2006 Corporate Equality Index gave Bank of America a 100% rating for its support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender associates.
Environmental record
Bank of America has increased its spending on environmental initiatives. In March of 2007, Bank of America announced in a news release its $20 billion plan for change spanning 10 years. This initiative intends to promote environment-friendly business practices and creation of new products. One of these practices was a program for home equity buyers that enabled donations to Conservation International.[26] In a speech about the $20 billion initiative, Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis noted the reasons for Bank of America’s concern about the environment. He stated that “green economy” has a great future for customers and his business.[27] The mission for Lewis and Bank of America is to reduce global warming. Some ways this is being attempted is in inquiry of solar panels, cap-and-trade discussions and carbon analyzing. [28]
Bank of America is creating an environmental banking group focused on finding and financing ways to promote conservation and reduce global warming.[29] Bank of America commits to reduce by 7 percent its own direct emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2008. It bases this goal on best estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), which determines global scientific consensus on climate change. The bank also seeks to reduce by 7 percent its indirect GHG emissions, namely those the bank is exposed to through investment in its energy and utilities portfolio. Bank of America will commission a research report evaluating banking sector risk exposure through financing GHG emission intensive industries.[30]
In addition, the company is a member of the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council which is a group of fortune 500 companies that are interested in finding ways to positively affect the climate. Bank of America plans to reduce its gas emission levels by 2009 and construct the “Worlds Greenest Skyscraper”. [31] This new company headquarters will be specifically designed to diminish negative affect on the environment by installing rain runoff and water recycling as well as wind turbines for power and cooling.[32]
Student Leader
Bank of America sponsors five high school juniors and seniors in 45 markets as a Bank of America Student Leader to participate in a leadership summit in Washington, DC and a paid internship with a local nonprofit/charitable organization. Students must be in good standing in academia and show superb leadership qualities.
Controversies
Main article: Bank of America controversies
Bank of America has been involved in a number of controversial issues. Many of its policies, such as "biggest check first" check clearing, overdraft fee policies, credit card application policy, and early account closures, have become heavily criticized. Bank of America controversies details some of the more notable and public issues.
