Bank of America Marks Small Business Week With New Payment, Spending and Investing Initiatives

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In conjunction with National Small Business Week, Bank of America today announced a series of initiatives designed to help small business owners run their businesses more efficiently and effectively. Bank of America is offering new payment options to manage cash flow, providing an update on its five-year, $10 billion commitment to spend more with small business suppliers, and investing in opportunities that enable small business growth.

“With the powerful combination of SCORE and Bank of America, the information and financial ‘know-how’ Simple Steps for Starting Your Business provides entrepreneurs and business owners is invaluable.”

Providing more payment options to help small businesses manage cash flow

Bank of America has launched three new small business charge cards designed to give small businesses more choice and control over their payment and expense management needs.

“Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. That’s why Bank of America has taken so many steps to provide small business owners with the tools, resources and opportunities they need to run their businesses more effectively,” said Dean Athanasia, Bank of America Mass Affluent and Small Business Segment executive. “We are doing more now than ever to understand the changing needs of our small business clients so we can provide them with the best value for their banking relationship.”

Unlike credit cards, charge cards require payment in full every month, enabling greater control over expenses without finance charges. The cards will be available through Bank of America banking centers and at bankofamerica.com later this month.

The suite of charge cards includes Business Charge™, Business Charge™ with WorldPoints^®Rewards and Business Preferred World MasterCard^®. For more information on Bank of America charge card products, click here.

Increasing spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses

Bank of America today also announced that it spent $4.1 billion with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses in 2010, the first year of a five-year, $10 billion commitment. The pledge to purchase more products and services from small, medium-sized and diverse businesses was announced last June.

“Businesses continue to tell us that their No. 1 concern in today’s economic environment is demand for their products and services,” said David Darnell, president of Global Commercial Banking. “It is imperative that Bank of America, as well as other major corporations across the country, continue to find ways to create more business opportunities for small, medium-sized and diverse businesses – companies that serve as a primary driver of our economy.”

The $4.1 billion in spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses included spending with new suppliers and additional spending with current suppliers. These companies provide the bank with a broad range of valuable services and products, including advertising, furniture, cleaning, courier service, home inspections, legal services, landscaping, maintenance, photography, security and software.

For more information on Bank of America’s supplier spending commitment, click here.

Offering guidance and resources for small business owners

Bank of America and SCORE “Mentors to America’s small business” have developed a new set of training resources to help business owners spur the growth and development of new ventures. The five-part series of three-hour workshops will include trainer guides and start-up workbooks. Entitled “Simple Steps for Starting Your Business,” the new resources will help start-ups learn how to identify funding sources and cash flow, discover market opportunities, and plan a marketing approach. As part of its continued efforts to help small business owners and the communities they serve, Bank of America has provided $250,000 to the SCORE Foundation to develop and manage the new training tools.

“SCORE is pleased to continue our collaborative relationship with Bank of America,” said SCORE CEO Ken Yancey. “With the powerful combination of SCORE and Bank of America, the information and financial ‘know-how’ Simple Steps for Starting Your Business provides entrepreneurs and business owners is invaluable.”

The new tools are designed for SCORE’s small business clients, helping them learn and build their ideas through a series of workshops that are interactive and include both learning exercises and SCORE’s free, confidential mentoring.

In addition to its work with SCORE, Bank of America is providing other educational and advisory resources for its small business clients through its Small Business Online Community (SBOC) – www.smallbusinessonlinecommunity.com. The SBOC enables small business owners to network with and obtain guidance from one another in an online forum. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has also launched a new online resource center for small businesses featuring success stories of small business clients. To view these profiles of success, visit www.bankofamerica.com/growyourbusiness.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 58 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,800 retail banking offices and approximately 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 8.5 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through mentoring and workshops. More than 12,400 volunteer business counselors in 364 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses.

For more information about starting or operating a small business, call 1-800/634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you. Visit SCORE at www.score.org and www.score.org/women. Connect with SCORE at www.facebook.com/SCOREFans, http://twitter.com/SCOREMentors and www.scorecommunity.org.

www.bankofamerica.com