BANK OF AMERICA

The Bank of America is an American-based multinational investment bank company that also offer financial services. It is headquartered in Charlotte but has central hubs in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Dallas, and Toronto.

The Bank of America has a rich history that dates back to 1998 when it was founded in San Francisco through the acquisition of BankAmerica made by NationsBank

One of The Bank of America’s branches of history goes back as far as 1904 to the Bank of Italy which served the purpose of providing Italian immigrants facing service discriminations a variety of banking options.

Shortly after the introduction of banking by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1909 in California, following legislation allowed branch banking in the state, the first branch was established just outside of San Francisco.

The founder of Bank of Italy, Giannini, acquired Banca d’Emerica e d’Italia (Bank of America and Italy) in 1922 and rapid growth was substantiated by the passage of landmark federal banking legislation during the 1950s.

Towards the end of 1958, substantial development and advancement in technology allowed for credit cards to be linked directly with bank accounts with The Bank of America introducing its BankAmericard, which changed to Visa in 1977.

By 1983, The Bank of America expanded significantly outside California through the acquisition of Seattle-First National Bank which had been orchestrated in party by Stephen McLin, of Seafirst Corporation based in Seattle, Washington.

Following this large acquisition, another was made in 1992 when The Bank of America acquired Security Pacific Corporation along with its subsidiary, Security Pacific National Bank along with other banks located in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. based in Chicago was acquired by The Bank of America in 1994 and with these mergers, The Bank of America once again became the largest U.S bank holding company.

This position was attributed in terms of deposits and unfortunately, the position was not held long until NationsBank Corporation moved to the first place in 1997 followed by First Union Corp. moving to second place and The Bank of America in third.

Robertson Stephens, which is an investment bank specializing specifically in high technology, was acquired by The Bank of America in 1997.

During 2004, there was a merger between The Bank of America and that of FleetBoston Financial which led to all its banks and branches receiving The Bank of America Logo.

During 2005, with the approval of the Federal Reserve Board, The Bank of America purchased MBNA for $35 billion in both cash and stock, which proved The Bank of America as a leading issuer of domestic and foreign credit cards.

Following this acquisition, The Bank of America purchased The United States Trust Company along with its $100 billion worth in assets under management in 2006, with the deal closed mid-2007.

With the approval of the Federal Reserve in late 2007, LaSalle Bank Corporation was acquired by The Bank of America and through having made this purchase, it possessed roughly $1.7 trillion in assets.

Today, The Bank of America is the second largest banking institution in the United States, closely following JPMorgan Chase along with being the 9th largest financial services company globally.

Not only did this deal increase The Bank of America’s presence in Illinois, but it also led to it becoming the largest bank in Chicago, having surpassed JPMorgan Chace with its 197 offices and 14% deposit share in that area alone.

The Bank of America utilized a variety of mergers and acquisitions to build upon its commercial banking business through the establishment of Merrill Lynch which predominantly dealt with wealth management.

Investment banking was catered for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2008 and 2009 with both The Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management retaining a large portion of market shares, each in their respective offerings.

The Bank of America oversees a high-value, extensive and vast product portfolio of financial services with the primary focus on commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking.

Apart from being the second largest banking institution, The Bank of America serves an approximate 10.37% of all bank deposits in America.

Although The Bank of America operates retail branches, it does not maintain them directly. These branches are spread across all 50 states of the United States as well as the District of Columbia and over 40 other countries in the world.

The Bank of America has a footprint that encapsulates around 46 million consumers in addition to small business relationships which are spread across 4,600 business centres with an amount of 15,9000 respective ATMs.

The Bank of America has had its shares in losses along with great successes over the past few decades and it has made significant progress in mobile banking which has gained it a lot of success and popularity.

With the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking havoc in the economies of almost 200 countries, the financial sectors have received the brunt of the blow with the largest four banks namely JPMorgan Chase, The Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup seeing the worst of it.

Since mid-February, these banks have collectively seen a plunge ranging between 39% – 52% with The Bank of America seeing a drop in 42% of its shares.

Despite this, The Bank of America has gone above and beyond to assist homeowners with their mortgage by providing some relief by allowing for mortgages and home equity loans to be deferred and added to the end of the respective loan terms.

The Bank of America trades its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the stock symbol BAC and it forms part of the S&P 100 and S&P 500 components.

During the first quarter of 2025, which ended in March, data pertaining to the analysis done on the market performance indicated net income of $4.0 billion with a total revenue, net of interest expense, of $22.8 billion and diluted earnings per share of $0.40.

Regardless of a decline in net income, The Bank of America has maintained a strong balance sheet with common shareholders’ equity amounting to $241 billion and book value per share of $27.84 which showed a 2% improvement from the previous quarter.

The Bank of America also saw increases in various other areas such as end of period loans and leases, end of period deposits and an increase in the Global Markets balance sheet, amidst others.

Regardless of drops in shares and reduced net income and revenue, there are conceited efforts in maintaining the strong balance sheet throughout the coming quarters with strong maintenance thereof forecasted through the duration of the pandemic.

With strong finances and strategic plans to maintain such in place, shareholders who buy or sell shares can expect solid dividends and returns.

Financial

Investment Banking and Financial Services

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• Can I buy Bank of America shares in South Africa?
  Yes, you can.

• How to buy Bank of America shares
  By simply opening a free account on SA Shares, or by clicking the “Buy this Share” button to get started.

• What is the current share price?
  By clicking on the link provided above, you can view the real-time Bank of America  share price on the platform.

• Is Bank of America a good share to buy?
  Yes, it is, but at own discretion as the financial sector is greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although, The Bank of America has reported stable financial results during the first quarter of 2025, with the forecast aimed at a balanced sheet for quarters to come.

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  Yes, you can.