Bank of America has become a global leader in digital banking steadily and without fuss. It has been a quiet route to success for the US financial firm; one done its own way, on its own timetable, and at its own pace.
Money matters of course. BofA’s total annual technology budget is $10.7 billion, of which more than $3.6 billion is dedicated to new initiatives. In the US since the start of 2012, it is a top-300 company for granted patents and it ranks 75th overall in 2022.
More specifically, it has 716 artificial intelligence patents, some granted and some pending, of which 71 relate to Erica, which the bank describes as the “most advanced AI-driven financial assistant in the industry”, assisting 17.8 million active users in the first quarter of 2023 alone. Clients spent 3.1 million hours ‘conversing’ with Erica in 2022, up 31% year on year.
That frees up human and financial capital that the bank can deploy more efficiently elsewhere.