Bank of America Facts
Bank of America is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the third largest commercial bank in the United States of America, measured in assets. It was founded in 1874 in Charlotte as Commercial Financial Bank.
Bank of America History
The Bank of America that exists today was the result of the purchase (which was structured as a merger) of the San Francisco-based Bank of America by Charlotte-based Nationsbank in 1998. As a part of the merger, Nationsbank acquired and assumed the Bank of America name.
Previously, in 1929, Amadeo Peter Giannini, the famous banking innovator who founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco, bought out the Bank of America, and began using the acquired bank’s name, i.e. Bank of America.
In 2005 Bank of America started a marketing campaign representing itself as founded in 1784 and being the second-oldest bank in the United States.
This reflects the founding date of the Bank of Massachusetts, which in the early 20th century acquired and took the name of the First National Bank of Boston, which was acquired by Fleet Financial Group (which originated in the Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island) to form FleetBoston Financial, which only came under the Bank of America umbrella in 2004.
The direct line to today’s company without allowing history to be purchased traces to the Commercial National Bank of Charlotte.
Bank of America Today
The purchase of BankAmerica Corp. by NationsBank Corp. was the largest bank acquistion in history at that time. While the deal was technically a purchase of Bank of America by Nationsbank, the deal was structured as a merger.
Despite the mammoth size of the two companies, federal regulators insisted only upon the divestiture of 13 branches in New Mexico, in towns that would be left with only a single bank following the combination.
This is because branch divestures are only required if the combined company will have a larger than 25 percent FDIC deposit market share in a particular state or 10 percent deposit market share overall. Following the $64.8 billion ($64,800,000,000) acquisition of BankAmerica by NationsBank, Bank of America had combined assets of $570 billion, and 4,800 branches in 22 states.
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.
Bank of America Merger
In 2004, Bank of America Corp. acquired Boston, Massachusetts-based FleetBoston for $47 billion 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 2 bank holding company, newly-merged JPMorgan Chase-Bank One with $353 billion in deposits and number 3 Wells Fargo & Co. with $228 billion. (Deposits as of June 30, 2003.)
The combined Bank of America and Fleet have 5,700 branches serving 35 million customers in 29 states. After the merger with FleetBoston Financial, roughly 1 out of every 10 dollars on deposit in a commercial bank and savings and loan were deposits of Bank of America.
Although Bank of America Corp. is much larger than its closest rivals in terms of deposit share, other financial services companies are larger on the basis of assets, profits and market capitalisation.
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, and will feature state-of-the-art “green” – environmentally friendly – technology throughout its 2.1 million square feet (200,000 m²) of office space.
On June 30, 2005 the bank announced it would purchase credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. Completion of the deal in the fourth quarter of 2005 will propel BofA past JPMorgan Chase to become the largest issuer of credit cards in the U.S. MBNA will be renamed Bank of America Card Services and be will headquartered in Delaware after the merger is complete in the second half of 2005.
Bank of America Corporation (the holding company) in 2005 has over $1.2 Trillion in assets.
Bank of America Distinctions
Bank of America was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.
Bank of America Sponorship
Bank of America owns the naming rights of the Carolina Panthers football stadium in Charlotte. It will also sponsor the October NASCAR race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina beginning in 2006, and that race will be known as the Bank of America 500.
It is also the official bank of Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and Little League.
