DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its plan to hire over 1,000 new small business bankers across the nation, Bank of America today announced that it will hire nearly 100 small business bankers in Texas – including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio – by the end of first quarter 2012. The Dallas-Fort Worth region was among the first three markets in the country to begin hiring Bank of America small business bankers, and more than 75 bankers have already been hired throughout the state.
Through a relationship with a Bank of America small business banker, customers 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.
“Bank of America is changing the way we do business with small business owners so we can more acutely address the complex financial issues they face each day,” said Anna Colton, small business banker national sales executive for Bank of America. “Our small business customers want a banking relationship that meets them where they are, providing solutions that are tailored for their business. This hiring effort addresses their needs head on by bringing the banking experience to our small business customers’ place of business and by providing them with solutions to manage their money more efficiently and effectively.”
Across the state of Texas, 96 percent of all businesses are small businesses with less than 100 employees, employing approximately one third of the state’s workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Dallas alone, nearly 80 percent of the city’s businesses are small businesses, employing close to 40 percent of the city’s workforce, according to the City of Dallas Office of Economic Development. And the Houston area is home to more than 228,000 businesses with less than 100 employees according to Greater Houston Partnership. City to city, these small business owners are often faced with unique and complex financial demands that require personalized guidance from a small business banker who understands their unique needs.
“Texas has a longstanding history of entrepreneurial excellence, serving as the backbone of our state’s economy for over a century,” said Kim Ruth, Houston and Texas market president for Bank of America. “Our small business bankers are able to provide business owners across Texas the financial guidance they need to keep their businesses moving forward, which in turn will benefit our state’s and nation’s economy.”
As a part of its ongoing commitment to small business, Bank of America extended $18 billion of credit to small businesses in 2010, up from $16.5 billion in 2009. As the nation’s largest investor in Community Development Financial Institutions, Bank of America last August began awarding $10 million in grants to nonprofit lenders for use as loan loss reserves required to access federal microlending capital. As of March 31, 2011, 96 grants totaling more than $6.4 million have gone to nonprofit lenders who have used the funds to access over eight times that amount, $53 million, in microloan capital, enabling them to make more than 3,000 microloans to small businesses and start-ups, helping to retain or create more than 7,000 jobs in local communities across the nation.
As of June 2010, Bank of America has also 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. In 2010, Bank of America has already spent $4.1 billion with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses, tracking ahead of schedule to meet its goal.
Other efforts to help small businesses include recent improvements to the bank's two million small business credit card accounts, such as no penalty rate increases on existing balances, and enhancements to the Advisor AllianceTM retirement plan platform, which serves more than 900,000 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 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.