Bank of America runs four businesses, each serving a different kind of customer. The first and most familiar looks after households and small firms: checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages and an online service for buying shares. The second manages the savings of wealthier families, from people with their first serious nest egg to the very rich, through its Merrill unit and a private bank.
The third works with companies of every size. It lends to them, handles their daily payments and helps them raise money by selling shares and bonds. The fourth trades bonds, currencies, commodities and shares for large investors such as pension funds.
A family that banks there shows how the money comes in. Its salary lands in a checking account. Its groceries go on a credit card, and the family pays interest on any balance it leaves unpaid on the card. It sends money to friends through Zelle, a service that moves cash between bank accounts in seconds. Its savings join deposits worth $2.04 trillion, and the bank uses that money to fund a large part of its lending.
That lending has grown steadily. Loans reached $1,251.3 billion in September 2026, against $903.1 billion in early 2021. Most of the business stays at home, since 86.4% of revenue comes from the United States. For future growth, management points to credit cards, whose rewards program it relaunched in 2026.
On its own, such a broad franchise looks impressive. Its real weight shows only beside the few American banks of similar reach.
