Bank of America

Bank of America (abbreviated as BofA) is an American multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets. As of 2013, Bank of America is the twenty-first largest company in the United States by total revenue. In 2010, Forbes listed Bank of America as the third biggest company in the world.

Bank of America provides its products and services through operating 5,100 banking centers, 16,300 ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking platforms. Its Consumer Real Estate Services segment offers consumer real estate products comprising fixed and adjustable-rate first-lien mortgage loans for home purchase and refinancing needs, home equity lines of credit, and home equity loans.

The bank's 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch made Bank of America the world's largest wealth management corporation and a major player in the investment banking market. According to the Scorpio Partnership Global Private Banking Benchmark 2014 it had assets under management (AuM) of USD 1,866.6 Bn an increase of 12.5% on 2013.

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management is the wealth management division of Bank of America. The firm is headquartered in New York City, and occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan. Merrill Lynch employs over 15,000 financial advisors and manages $2.2 trillion in client assets.

The firm has its origins in Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. which, prior to 2009, was publicly owned and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MER. Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be acquired by Bank of America on September 14, 2008, at the height of the 2008 Financial Crisis. The acquisition was completed in January 2009 and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. was merged into Bank of America Corporation in October 2013, although certain Bank of America subsidiaries continue to carry the Merrill Lynch name, including the broker-dealer Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.

History

Founding and early history

The company was founded on January 6, 1914, when Charles E. Merrill opened his Charles E. Merrill & Co. for business at 7 Wall Street in New York City. A few months later, Merrill's friend, Edmund C. Lynch, joined him, and in 1915 the name was officially changed to Merrill, Lynch & Co. At that time, the firm's name included a comma between Merrill and Lynch. In 1916, Winthrop H. Smith joined the firm.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the corporate and investment banking division of Bank of America. It provides services in mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, lending, trading, risk management, research, and liquidity and payments management. It was formed through the combination of the corporate and investment banking activities of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch following the acquisition of the latter by the former in January 2009.

History

Bank of America completed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co on 1 January 2009. Bank of America began rebranding all of its corporate and investment banking activities under the Bank of America Merrill Lynch name in September 2009.

In April 2010, Bank of America Merrill Lynch appointed Christian Meissner as head of investment banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In April 2011, Bank of America Merrill Lynch integrated its corporate and investment banking operations into a single division.

In October 2013, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was recognised as the Most Innovative Investment Bank of the Year in The Banker's Investment Banking Awards.

The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool is a multimedia financial-services company that provides financial solutions for investors through various stock, investing, and personal finance services. The Alexandria, Virginia-based private company was founded in July 1993 by co-chairmen and brothers David and Tom Gardner, and Erik Rydholm, who has since left. The company employs more than 300 people.

The Business

Investment advice

The Motley Fool offers a wide range of stock news and analysis at its free website, www.fool.com, as well as through a variety of paid investment advice services. The services, many of which combine a traditional paper newsletter with interactive electronic discussion boards and other tools, cover a range of styles from small caps to international stocks, to options, to shorting.

Motley Fool Culture

The company received the 2014 and 2015 nationwide honor for being "the No. 1 Medium-Sized Company to Work for in the United States" from Glassdoor.com.

Mutual funds

In June 2009, Motley Fool Funds launched its first mutual fund, Motley Fool Independence Fund. As of mid-December 2014, the fund (FOOLX) had outperformed the Russell 2000 index by almost 20 percentage points and earned 3 out of 5 stars from Morningstar.

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that creates credit by lending money to a borrower, thereby creating a corresponding deposit on the bank's balance sheet. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial system and influence on national economies, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.

Banking in its modern sense evolved in the 14th century in the rich cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways was a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties — notably, the Medicis, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs and the Rothschilds — have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank.