Bank of America Hires More Than 50 Small Business Bankers Across Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bank of America today announced that it is hiring more than 50 small business bankers in New England to provide guidance and counsel to local small business owners. The additions are part of the company’s previously announced plan to hire 1,000 small business bankers across the nation by mid-2012.

“Our small business bankers will provide business owners in New England with the tools they need to continue to be the engine that drives our local and national economy forward.”

Through a relationship with a Bank of America small business banker, clients will have convenient access to local small business expertise and a dedicated resource who knows their business. Small business bankers will consult with small business owners at their place of business and assess their companies' deposit, credit and cash management needs.

These new hires will support the unique needs of small business owners in the following regions:

Massachusetts – 32 hires, including 13 in Greater Boston.
Connecticut – 14 hires.
Rhode Island – 5 hires.

“For well over 200 years, New England has been a pioneer of entrepreneurial innovation, and Bank of America is proud to be supporting the region’s entrepreneurial heritage,” said Bob Gallery, Massachusetts president for Bank of America. “Our small business bankers will provide business owners in New England with the tools they need to continue to be the engine that drives our local and national economy forward.”

In Massachusetts alone, there are 594,487 companies with fewer than 500 employees. Of these, 138,846 are employers, accounting for almost half (47.8 percent) of private-sector jobs in the state. Moreover, small businesses in total, both employers and non-employers, make up 97.9 percent of the state’s businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

In Connecticut and Rhode Island, the number of companies with fewer than 500 employees exceeds 400,000. Each of these businesses faces its own set of challenges that require specialized attention from a small business banker who understands the unique issues they face, as well as of the customers they serve.

“Our bankers spend the time needed with each of our clients to fully understand their deposit, credit, payroll and cash management needs, while serving as a conduit to experts across the Bank of America franchise,” said Raj Kochhar, Small Business Banking region executive for the Northeast. “They can help small business owners with complex issues ranging from commercial real estate needs to providing the right retirement solutions for themselves and their employees.”

Bank of America continued to actively lend to small businesses across the U.S. in 2011, extending $6.4 billion in new originations to small businesses. This increased new credit to small businesses by 20 percent in 2011, enabling the bank to exceed its small business lending pledge to the White House and the SBA.

Bank of America is the leading bank supporting Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), providing more than $200 million to finance small businesses that can’t qualify for traditional loans. The CDFI grant program, created in 2010 to unlock low-cost capital for small businesses, has allowed CDFIs to access more than $93 million, serving over 8,700 local businesses and helping to retain more than 13,000 jobs.

Following a June 2010 announcement, Bank of America increased its spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses through a commitment to purchase $10 billion in products and services from those suppliers over five years.

Other efforts to help small businesses include a new suite of small business charge cards that give businesses more choice and control over their payment and expense management needs. Additionally, Bank of America has made recent improvements to the bank's two million small business credit card accounts, such as no penalty rate increases on existing balances. Additional enhancements have been made to the Advisor Alliance™ retirement plan platform, which serves more than 950,000 people from more than 40,000 businesses. Advisor Alliance combines Merrill Lynch investment and advisory services with a choice of diverse, committed partners to provide competitive recordkeeping and plan administration services for businesses’ retirement plan needs.

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 57 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,700 retail banking offices and approximately 17,750 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.

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www.bankofamerica.com