Many of the major US banks are now adopting digital strategies into their business; Lend Academy shares progress from JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi and Goldman Sachs. Source
Business Insider reports on the success of Bank of America’s investment in digital channels; reports that they added about 2 million users to digital channels, predominantly to mobile; mobile channel usage rose 34% year over year; article also compares active mobile users across competing banks Wells Fargo and JP Morgan. Source
Bank of America’s Cathy Bessant says the bank’s talent is just as important as the technology they implement; the bank plans to spend more than $600mn on cybersecurity alone and says to TearSheet, “Sometime’s theres a misunderstanding that cyber defense is somehow all technology, and it’s not,” she said. “It’s judgment and how to assess a threat and think about mitigation every single day.”; technology is not only making the bank more efficient but it has also forced the bank to retrain employees for new technology skills, making the bank stronger overall; the bank is making a big push into AI and currently has more than 80 patents related to the new technology. Source.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says that the big bank point of view of Dodd-Frank is that the law is fine; he explained that none of the big banks are trying to touch the law and it has made the financial system safer; small banks have been pushing to roll back some of the regulations associated with Dodd-Frank because they feel it is too burdensome; the interview at the Economic Club of Washington also touches on fintech, blockchain and other bank related issues. Source.
Bank of America is the second big bank, following JPMorgan Chase, to announce a big expansion of branches; the bank plans to open more than 500 branches over the next 4 years and hire over 5,400 people; they also said they will redesign more than 1,500 branches with new technologies and layouts; the focus of the plan is to establish more branches in mid sized markets that are typically dominated by regional banks. Source.
Zelle, the banking p2p payments app, saw an 84 percent jump in year over year growth with Bank of America; the app saw over 68 million transactions in 2017 through their Bank of America partnership; Zelle recently started a marketing campaign to provide more exposure to the brand as many users might not realize they are using Zelle since it is integrated with their banking app. Source.
A new survey by Bank of America found that 63 percent of millennials are saving money, that is on par with generation X and baby boomers; the survey shows that millennials are a lot more in tune with their financial lives then they are given credit for; the survey also found that millennials are more apt to ask for a raise and they also play into stereotypes by saying they spend too much and don’t save enough when asked by researchers. Source.
Amazon Lending first launched in 2011 and now is partnering with Bank of America Merrill Lynch according to sources; Amazon invites sellers to the program which provides loans between $1000 and $750,000; in June, 2017 Amazon announced it had lent $1 billion over the previous 12 months; recent reports show that Amazon has slowed growth of the product in 2017 to better understand credit risks. Source
BOA filed a lengthy regulatory filing this week; in it they mention the risks of cryptocurrencies to their business; the bank wrote: “The widespread adoption of new technologies, including internet services, cryptocurrencies and payment systems, could require substantial expenditures to modify or adapt our existing products and services as we grow and develop our internet banking and mobile banking channel strategies in addition to remote connectivity solutions.”; they also discussed the regulatory consequences of cryptocurrencies which could limit the ability for the bank to track movement of funds. Source
The online lender has named Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Numis Corp to work on their upcoming IPO; the IPO is currently slated for the second or third quarter which may value the company around $2 billion; if successful it would be the largest IPO for a British fintech company; Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Accel Partners were early investors in the company. Source