The story
Founded by Amadeo Giannini in 1930, in San Francisco.1
The history of Bank of America began on October 17, 1904, when Amadeo Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco.
The Bank of Italy was established to serve working class citizens of the area, especially Italian Americans living in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. The bank survived the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, after Amadeo Pietro Giannini saw an approaching fire and relocated the bank assets to his San Mateo home using a horse drawn cart.
It was one of the first banks to offer loans to businesses to help rebuild the city.
The first location of the bank was in Jackson Square starting in 1904. The original building is no longer standing but the location is now the home of the Colombo Building (1909). The Bank of Italy building was opened at the corner of Clay and Montgomery streets in 1908 and later became a National Historic Landmark. Giannini had his office space in an open area on the first floor. In 1909, the bank began opening branches in other cities, beginning with San Jose.
It had 24 branches by 1918, at which time it was the first statewide branch banking system. That year, Bancitaly Corporation, was organized by A. P. Giannini, the largest stockholder of which was Stockholders Auxiliary Corporation. This company acquired the stocks of various banks located in New York City and certain foreign countries.
In 1922, the Bank of America, Los Angeles, was established with Giannini as a minority investor. The Bank of Italy merged with the smaller Bank of America, Los Angeles then led by Orra E. Monnette, in 1928, and consolidated with other bank holdings to create what would become the largest banking institution in the country. The following year, C. Ledyard Blair's New York City investment bank, Blair & Co., merged with Bank of America.
The Bank of Italy was renamed on November 3, 1930, to Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, which was the only such designated bank in the United States at that time. Giannini and Monnette headed the resulting company, serving as co-chairs. Giannini continued to expand the bank until his death in 1949.
Bank of America merged with NationsBank of Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1998. While NationsBank was the nominal survivor, the merged bank took the Bank of America name and operates under the original charter for Bank of Italy. It also merged with Fleet Boston in April 1st, 2004, making it a bank with trillion dollar assets.
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On January 31, 2024, Bank of America declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share, payable on March 29, 2024, to shareholders of record as of March 1, 2024.
On April 16, 2024, BoA shares fell over 3% following its first-quarter earnings report, which showed a decline in net income and an increase in provisions for credit losses.
In January 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that an investigation by india's financial regulator found Bank of America had improperly shared non-public information regarding a $180 million block stock trade and subsequently misled authorities during the inquiry.
On September 14, 2026, Bank of America shares fell 5.1% to $59.47, marking the stock's largest single day decline since April 2025. The drop followed statements by Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan indicating that third-quarter investment banking revenue was expected to decline by at least 10% year-over-year, while sales and trading revenue was projected to remain flat.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bank of America (1904–1998), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4