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Archives
December 2004 → April 2007

Contents 1 Merge? 1.1 NationsBank 1.2 The history section is wrong 2 FDIC insured or not 3 Vandalism 4 Proposal for Bank of America WikiProject 5 Military Branches? 6 The first BoA 7 Include the federal bailout 8 Revenue, net income, total assets? 9 The controversy section 10 The Controversy Section II 11 BA Continuum Solutions Pvt. Ltd. 12 BofA "changed banking history" 13 "Forced" Acquisition 14 Early BofA History

[edit] Merge?

VOTE: AGAINST: All this talk, and nothing about the proposed Wikipedia merger of this article and NationsBank? I would vote against the merge, because before the companies combined, each was a separate entity with its own history. The timelines, up to the point of the merge, are parallel and distinct. That history may include competition and conflict with its eventual corporate siblings, which would make the structure of a combined article tricky.

But if complaining about BofA's corporate practices is more important, then by all means, don't mind me, go right ahead. :) --Robertb-dc 18:38, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

There's more about this above, in the "NationsBank" section - take a look at my suggestion up there. =) akendall_(talk) 02:38, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

VOTE: AGAINST: Given the large size and Bank of America (as an org, not article) and the likihood that it will be expanded many times in the future, necessitating the creation of related pages, etc. I'm therefore gonna be against the idea of merging NationsBank, which has its own history nad BofA. Mbisanz 03:44, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

VOTE: AGAINST: If George H. W. Bush dies, do you merge his article in with George W. Bush? Why if a company dies do we merge that article into the buyer. NationsBank was a entity that was born and ceased to exist at certain days. It had a "life" of it's own, and should say so. The Hudson's Bay Company or the East India Company may no longer exist, but their articles should not be merged into the article of England. The voting has had more than the standard time limit ask for in Wikipedia regulations. I am removing the MERGE tag. Thanks. WikiDon 06:06, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

VOTE: FOR: Responding to the above, NationsBank bought BankAmerica, not the other way around, therefore the history of the current Bank of America is that of NationsBank. It was structured as a merger and chose to do business under Gianni's Federal Charter 13044, but the fact remains that NationsBank was the buyer. The beginning of the article is contradictory as well. It starts off by saying that Bank of America was known as NationsBank before the merger, and then suddenly dismisses that and lists BankAmerica's history instead. If we are going to have the companies history listed, then it needs to be accurate. If it causes any confusion having both, then remove BankAmerica's history to it's own page. The fact remains that the article as written is at the very least inaccurate and will need to be corrected. The solution is simple. As NationsBank was the buyer, add its history to the article... or remove BankAmerica's to a separate page. For a site such as wikipedia, accuracy MUST be preserved. Wintercoast 00:26, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

VOTE: FOR: I agree with Wintercoast. WikiDon, your examples are inappropriate; George W. Bush will never take over George H.W. Bush in a merger (or vice versa), Hudson's Bay Company still exists (though it doesn't govern much of Canada as it once did), and even if you assume the historical HBC is gone its successor is Canada, not England. (Historical HBC didn't give up control until the British Parliament added its territory to the then-Dominion of Canada in 1870.) Mbisanz, this article is NOT likely to expand that much as the 10% deposit cap restrains BofA's ability to make further acquisitions; if it expands greatly it'll be due to BofA criticism, not further mergers. (IMHO, big companies tend to draw an inordinate share of criticism; many other banks have the same faults as BofA, but you don't hear as much about them because they're not as big.)

Robertb-dc, your approach has led to all kinds of mini-articles on NationsBank predecessors (such as Commercial National Bank and American Commercial Bank) that have no apparent connection to NationsBank or BofA besides their inclusion in the "Bank of America legacy banks" category. (Edit: Link style edited to avoid adding this page to the category. --RBBrittain 12:19, 24 September 2007 (UTC)) Though BofA predecessors with distinct histories (such as Barnett Bank and Citizens & Southern National Bank, ironically on the other side of the merger that turned North Carolina National Bank into NationsBank) should keep their separate articles, those that are only placekeepers (such as CNB and ACB) should become redirects to this article after NationsBank is merged here.

Though modern BofA has a polyglot history, its two most important predecessors are NationsBank (the taproot) followed by Giannini's BofA (not just for the name and history, but because Giannini was a pioneer of consumer banking). Those two histories belong here, along with certain elements of the Bank of Massachusetts-BankBoston-FleetBoston Financial history (since BofA now claims a founding date of 1784 from Bank of Massachusetts via Fleet), though the Fleet-related articles should remain separate. --RBBrittain 12:12, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Removing Merge Tag and Strong Vote Against Merge - I removed the merge tag which has been on this article since April 2007 (and has not been on the Nationsbank article since September 2007). Wikipedia has a precedent on writing articles on component corporations that have merged into other entities with railroads and airlines and even phone companies being notable examples. A similar example to this is Chemical Bank whose management did the big mergers with it changing its name to Chase to facilitate take overs. I'm getting ready to write a Boatsmen Bank article which has its own colorful history which probably would have been nuked if it were incorporated in the current big parent. Americasroof (talk) 16:08, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NationsBank

I have a problem with this company, known as NationsBank until 1998, having the original Bank of America's history presented as it's own. It makes as much sense as saying that their history is that of Fleet, or MBNA, or any other bank they've acquired over the years. That said, I'm fine with leaving the story of the original BofA in this article, as long as it's made clear that the modern BofA's history is that of NationsBank. I've redone the intro to say just that. Rasi2290 17:59, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

I think it would be better to split off the Bank of America history into a separate article, BankAmerica, and then merge in the information from the NationsBank article. Doing this will highlight the difference between the old Bank of America and the current Bank of America. janus657 13:51, 01 May 2007 (UTC)

If anything is to be done about having BankAmerica history on the Bank of America page, it should be separated out onto the BankAmerica page, but NationsBank history should not be combined. Rather, links to the two pages for the pre-1998 companies would be more appropriate. The sheer confusion of having NationsBank's history on the Bank of America page (when in fact BankAmerica was originally Bank of Italy then "Bank of America") would not clear up anything. I think having the post-1998 history of the combined (technically NationsBank, but not really) company on the Bank of America page is appropriate, with an explanation at the beginning of the section and links to NationsBank and BankAmerica. akendall_(talk) 02:36, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Also, there's the obvious problem that BankAmerica redirects to Bank of America, so that would have to be fixed, with a disclaimer at the top of the BankAmerica page, saying "for the modern Bank of America, which was the result of the 1998 merger between BankAmerica and NationsBank, see Bank of America" akendall_(talk) 02:37, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The history section is wrong

The Bank of America that exists today is not the California-based BankAmerica that the history section talks about. The Bank of America of today is the same bank as NationsBank, not BankAmerica, and the history section should reflect that. NationsBank bought BankAmerica—just like it bought Fleet, MBNA, etc.—then changed its name. I propose placing the BankAmerica history in its own article, then changing the history section of this article to reflect the history of NationsBank, the bank that is today known as Bank of America. In its current form, this article misleads the reader. --JHP 06:51, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

There certainly is logic to what you are proposing. However, the average reader probably doesn't know the history of the bank. If it's done, then it should be clearly written (possibly twice, once near the beginning and one chronologically in the history) that B of A existed before as one of the largest banks in the country that was acquired by Nations Bank ...see history and link to separate article. Haveaquestion 15:55, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

A smaller company taking over a larger company then using the larger company name has happened before. Recently, America West Airlines took over US Airways and took the US Airways name. However, instead of having the US Airways article show the history of America West before the merger and then the current history, it shows the old US Airways/Allegheny history. Haveaquestion 16:06, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

NationsBank was not the smaller company, but the larger. By the time the buyout/merger occured, both NationsBank and First Union were larger, being first and second respectively. BankAmerica was the third largest bank at the time. I am disturbed that the article ignores fact and presents BankAmerica's history instead of NationsBank. This is not due to my being pro-NationsBank, rather it is because Wikipedia's intergrity must be preserved and the article as currently written is simply wrong.Wintercoast 00:35, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

To begin with, there are multiple measures regarding smaller and larger, including deposits, Shareholder$$ & Book Value, number of households served, number of account-holders, etc.

Furthermore, there is the matter of continuity of the name of the entity. Consider what it takes to describe the Capital of The United States of America. The other cities were not physically moved to Washington, DC.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and hence someone reading a history of the name Bank of America should be able to start with the California entity and then flow into the North Carolina-based entity, albeit with the option of following hyperlinks to the NationsBank (pre-merger) entity's history. Trink24 (talk) 08:18, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] FDIC insured or not

Are consumer checking and/or savings accounts FDIC-insured or not? The BoA website does not say that it is NOT FDIC insured. Can we add this information to the article? Do you have any credible source that I can use? --Kushal^{Click me!} write to me 15:29, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, they are insured. At the bottom of their web pages is the statement "Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC.". 66.24.34.51 (talk) 15:13, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe the "not FDIC insured" notice is for the BancofAmerica/Merryl Lynch securities services. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.147.131.203 (talk) 04:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

User "138.23.89.187" clearly has a beef against BofA - just reverted a load of silly edits. Strongly suggest someone blocks him before he does it again. Psidogretro (talk) 22:54, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

--Uatemyfish (talk) 04:26, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposal for Bank of America WikiProject

Because of the edit war involving the ABN AMRO article, I am proposing a WikiProject for Bank of America and related articles including Bank of America legacy banks and financial institutions which sold operations to Bank of America including ABN AMRO. This way, all editors who closely monitor Bank of America and related articles can nip edit wars in the bud. What do you think?—Preceding unsigned comment added by Steelbeard1 (talk • contribs) 18:37, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

I will join, but lack of free time has restricted my Wikipedia contributions lately.
--JKeene (talk) 03:35, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

I got the WikiProject started at Wikipedia:WikiProject Bank of America. Steelbeard1 (talk) 04:00, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Military Branches?

Is there any information to put out on Military BofA? Dchagwood (talk) 16:47, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The first BoA

There was another New York based Bank of America, founded in 1812, later acquired by Transamerica in 1930. After Transamerica relinquished it, it was merged into National City, which later became Citibank. [1] A short disambiguation section would make things less confusing. Zipzipzip (talk) 05:15, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

• That should be "purchased by", not "merged into". Zipzipzip (talk) 05:17, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Apparently, this first BOA was the offspring of the 'First National Bank of the United States' founded by Alexander Hamilton. Looks like some history is being lost here without an appropriate disamb section! (See: this)

[edit] Include the federal bailout

Someone is probably intentially not including the TARP bailout information to make the article look good and positive, that is POV. 97.118.115.198 (talk) 23:26, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Revenue, net income, total assets?

Acording to company's official data, link found on BoA page, (page two), the revenue is $73,9 billion, net income $4 billion, and total assets: $1.8 trillion. So, the data in the article seems very bugged. In 2007 the net income is indeed $14 billion, but the revenue is also half of the number in the article: $68,5 billion. Am I missing anyting? Ark25 (talk) 03:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] The controversy section

What's to be done with the controversy section? It had grown out of proportion to the article and was separated into it's own article which has now been deleted as a soapbox. The current subsection is disorganized and doesn't read well. I'm not sure that it's necessarily encyclopedic to begin with, and perhaps should be deleted. After all, most articles about corporations do not include controversy sections. If we do choose to include a controversy section it should be kept simple and not grow to the size of the independent article. What does everyone think? Stile4aly (talk) 20:13, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I think the section could use some reorganizing and some cleanup. The criticisms referencing TARP could easily be incorporated into the "Federal bailout" section of the article; the quote from Virginia Hammerness isn't particularly notable and could be removed as it's just soapboxing; and the coal mining issue appears to have been resolved and is no longer an open criticism. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 17:54, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

BofA stated they would not, in the future, do MTR, but they still finance coal. The controversy is still active and not resolved. rkmlai (talk) 18:32, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

There used to be a section about their "biggest check first" and other scams they pull, but shills for the bank have deleted it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.127.100.233 (talk) 05:02, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Their actions have been outrageous enough to spur Congress into action. If the House, the Senate, and the President all think your practices are controversial, they obviously are. Redacting the controversies makes this an advertisement. Don't Be Evil (talk) 14:58, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

If by "biggest check first" (above) the focus is on the practice of clearing one's rent/mortgage check before a group of other checks (e.g. utility and other bills), attacking B of A is, as of this comment/date, pointless, since other banks are now doing the same. Trink24 (talk) 08:28, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] The Controversy Section II

I am very concerned with this section. It's entirely uncited, apparently unsourced and sounds a lot like original research to me. Unless coverage of the stated controversies can be found, I say it's out. Vicenarian ^{(T · C)} 01:02, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. There should be verifiable journalistic citations to back up the edits. Steelbeard1 (talk) 01:14, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

I would be happy to see it disappear entirely as sections on "controversy" tend not to exist on entries about other corporations. The issue is that historically it had been on the article where it grew to a disproportionate size, then extracted to its own article which was then deleted as a coat rack, and now reinserted at a greatly reduced scope into this article. Stile4aly (talk) 00:01, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] BA Continuum Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

I wish to create an unbiased wikipage for BA Continuum Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which is a non-subsidiary branch of Bank of America and link it to the article of Bank of America. So what should I do for it? NiluKush (talk) 05:17, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] BofA "changed banking history"

I heard about the way BofA started lending money to "the working man" & farmers which had never been done before & it "changed history." Up until that time very few people could get loans because they assumed "the working man" wouldn't repay a loan. Could someone provide info on that in this article? Stars4change (talk) 05:23, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

It makes no sense to change crap around!!! Leave it as it is, we do not need to split up the Merrill Lynch section...

I agree with the part after the above exclamation points, per what I noted below. Hence, for now, am removing the (month old) suggestion to split out (Forced or unForced) Acquisition by Bank of America of Merrill Lynch. Trink24 (talk) 04:00, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] "Forced" Acquisition

I am removing the Forced from the title of the Acquisition of Merrill Lynch section. While it is widely speculated that BofA was pressured or "forced" to buy ML, it has never been established as a fact, and therefore the use of forced is not correct and implies a certain POV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.128.214.194 (talk) 20:46, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

"An offer he couldn't refuse" by William D. Cohan, Atlantic Magazine, Sept. 2009, is more than merely "widely speculated" and, depending on how one reads the article, the word FORCED may be appropriate - later on, when more details surface, if not now. As for making a separate article about the Merrill Lynch acquisition, time will tell if this is just another part of the long history of the entity known as Bank of America. For now, my vote is Leave It Alone, a separate article is not needed, since otherwise there would be 2 places to make edits (the B-of-A article's summary and the stand-alone article). Trink24 (talk) 08:42, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Early BofA History

Your history states that Mr. Giannini was able to get his money out of his vault when the earthquake hit. I grew up with BofA in the 1950s & what I was told was that Mr. Giannini was a pioneer in "branch banking". Where other banks at the time of the quake had only one offices, he already had branches throughout the Bay Area serving the Italian community. His bank, like the other banks when the quake hit, could not immediately reach the money in the vault, but he sent riders to his other branches & had cash couriered into the city. He set a table up on the street corner outside his crumbled bank & began lending to people to rebuild, whereas other banks had to wait days to get into their vaults. It earned him the gratitude & loyalty of many San Franciscans. I was also told that he renamed the Bank of Italy to Bank of America as a result of Mussolini's rise to power in Italy. ----Bob Fraas, Vista CA

Above was posted at WT:Talk page guidelines. I have moved it from there to here in case anyone can investigate. Johnuniq (talk) 07:10, 16 November 2009 (UTC)