Bank of America's AI Patent Portfolio Surges 94% in Two Years, Highlighting Financial Sector's Tech Race

Bank of America Expands AI and Machine Learning Patents 94% Over Two Years

Bank of America Corp. nearly doubled the number of patents related to AI and machine learning in two and a half years as financial firms race to embrace the evolving technology. The lender has nearly 1,100 AI and machine learning patents and pending applications within its portfolio at midyear, a 94% increase since early 2022, according to a statement Wednesday. More than half of the total have been granted already, BofA said.

Bank of America Doubles AI Patents In Two Years

Bank of America said it has doubled its artificial intelligence and machine learning-related patents in the last two years amid a move by large financial institutions to tout their technology bonafides. The bank on Wednesday said its portfolio of patents and pending applications now includes almost 1,100 AI and machine learning patents, a 94% increase since 2022. The bank has deployed AI

AI Patents at BofA Increase 94% Since 2022 - Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)

Company's patent portfolio includes nearly 1,100 AI and machine learning patents CHARLOTTE, N.C. and LONDON and HONG KONG, Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America is dedicated to the use of innovative technology to best meet the needs of its clients and employees. This commitment to innovation has led to a 94% increase in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) granted patents and pending patent applications since 2022. Today, the company has nearly 1,100 AI and ML patents and pending applications in its portfolio, with more than half having already been granted. Overall, the bank holds nearly 7,000 granted patents and pending patent applications, and the most granted patents of any financial services company. This is thanks to the creativity of its more than 7,500 talented inventors based in 14 countries and 42 U.S. states, and a culture that empowers teammates to explore and develop innovative solutions for individuals and businesses around the world. "We innovate to meet and anticipate our clients' needs. As our pace of innovation accelerates, we're continually listening to clients and building solutions to improve and simplify their experiences," said Aditya Bhasin, Chief Technology & Information Officer at Bank of America. "Such has been the case with our approach to AI, machine learning, and related technology for many years - the use of which centers on the benefits to our clients and employees." In addition to artificial intelligence and machine learning, other technology categories in which new patents have been granted to Bank of America this year include information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality. Bank of America spends over $12 billion annually on technology, of which approximately $4 billion will be directed to new technology initiatives in 2024. These ongoing investments continue to enhance client experiences and to drive operational efficiencies. AI Benefits Expanding Bank of America's approach to AI includes human oversight, transparency, and accountability for all outcomes. A few examples of how AI and machine learning are being used responsibly across the company to benefit clients and employees include: Erica® - More than 45 million clients have used Erica, the most advanced and first widely available AI-driven virtual financial assistant. This massive adoption has led to 2.4 billion interactions with Erica since its launch in 2018. Over the last six years, Erica's capabilities have expanded to support individual and corporate clients, including within Merrill, Benefits OnLine®, and the company's award-winning CashPro® platform.Wealth Management - Launched in 2020, Client Insights uses AI-enabled data analytics to help Merrill Wealth Management and Bank of America Private Bank advisors identify, manage and act on changes in client circumstances. This leads to opportunities to best serve clients' tax harvesting, retirement planning, and student banking needs, and more. Over 30 million insights have been delivered to advisors since launch, helping them and their teams proactively connect with clients about these timely and relevant opportunities.CashPro Chat - CashPro is a digital banking platform used by 40,000 corporate and commercial clients around the world to manage their treasury operations. As the platform's virtual service advisor, CashPro Chat uses the same AI and machine learning capabilities powering Erica to help clients quickly view transactions, find information about accounts, and more. The questions CashPro Chat can assist with have doubled since its launch last year, and the capability now includes "intelligent advisor routing" - an AI-enabled feature that quickly recognizes complex requests and routes clients to a live specialist with expertise in that area when needed and with a single click.Bank of America Intelligent Receivables® - This reconciliation solution uses AI and advanced data capture technology to bring together payment information and associated remittance detail from various payment channels, offering greater efficiency and insights to companies and their customers around the world. Intelligent Receivables matches payments to outstanding invoices and thereby reduces time and costs associated with manual processing while speeding up reconciliation to enable new sales. The system, delivered in collaboration with a third party, also uses AI to learn customer patterns and behaviors to improve the accuracy of remittance data over time.Global Markets - Bank of America's internal facing chatbot leverages natural language processing and machine learning to answer queries that arise during the trading day - continually improving the accuracy of responses based on previously answered questions. Deployed to over 20 areas of Global Markets, the chatbot connects the company's proprietary systems and databases to deliver intuitive responses to trading-related questions such as real-time market depth, trending indicators, historical trading volumes, current exposures, and unmatched or cancelled trades. This enables traders to respond to client inquiries with greater consistency and speed, and with higher quality data. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading 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 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, 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 households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange BAC. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts. Reporters may contact: Matt Card, Bank of America Phone: 1.202.579.6879 matthew.card@bofa.com Catherine Page, Bank of America Phone: 1.704.519.7314 catherine.page@bofa.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ai-patents-at-bofa-increase-94-since-2022-302283882.html SOURCE Bank of America Corporation Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

AI patents at BofA increase 94% since 2022

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The US bank now has nearly 1100 AI and ML patents and pending applications in its portfolio, with more than half having already been granted. In addition to AI, patents have been granted this year in information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality have all Overall, BofA holds nearly 7000 granted patents and pending patent applications, boosted by more than 7500 "inventors" and a $12 billion annual tech budget, of which $4 billion is being directed to new initiatives this year. AI's use at BofA is most prominently on display in Erica, its virtual assistant used by more than 45 million customers. The technology is also used in data analytics for wealth management and the CashPro Chat service advisor for 40,000 corporate and commercial clients. Aditya Bhasin, CTIO, BofA, says: "As our pace of innovation accelerates, we're continually listening to clients and building solutions to improve and simplify their experiences. Such has been the case with our approach to AI, machine learning, and related technology for many years - the use of which centers on the benefits to our clients and employees."