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Bank of AmericaUnited States
Active
This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 00:00:00
Bank of America, head office Charlotte NC. Photo: jbarreiros via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
Active
This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 00:00:00
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About
| Website | http://www.bankofamerica.com |
| Headquarters |
100 North Tryon Street
28255 Charlotte, NC
United States
|
| CEO/chair |
Brian T. Moynihan CEO |
| Supervisor | |
| Ownership |
listed on NYSE & Tokyo Stock Exchange
Bank of America's shareholder structure can be accessed here. |
Bank of America is an American multinational banking and financial services corporation and is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In 2008 Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, enabling the bank to become the world's largest wealth management corporation and a major investment bank.
Sustainability
Commitments
Policies
Voluntary standards
Bank of America's most important sustainability commitments can be found at the website sections listed below.
Bank of America has committed itself to the following voluntary standards:
Dodgy Deals
Bank Of America is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of Bank Of America's link to these deals.
Projects / Companies
Finance type
Year
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Resources
Documents
Links
Accountability
Grievances
Response
tracking
Bank of America provides an Ethics and Compliance Hotline, which it states can be used by any individual or group to report complaints or potential violations related to ethical concerns or other misconduct, including adverse human rights impacts. Complaints can be raised here. Stakeholders may also raise complaints via the OECD National Contact Points (see OECD Watch guidance).
This page evaluates Bank of America's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".
Impacts reviewed
Responded?
Total score
Response
Action
Monitoring
Drummond and paramilitary violence in Colombia (May 2016)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank publicly responded stating that it "does not comment on past or present client relationships". A representative of the bank arranged to speak with BankTrack by telephone, but asked that the discussion remain confidential. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank provided no details publicly on whether it engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Myanmar: Equity exposure to companies linked to the military regime (October 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank responded to say that unlike other large investment firms, they do not have mutual funds that they manage. The response, which was publicly provided to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, does not speak to the subtance of the issues raised or acknowledge a link to the companies mentioned in the report. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or investee companies or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available about whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Banks and Dirty Diesel: Vitol and Trafigura (May 2017)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Complicity in Destruction IV: Mining and Indigenous Rights in the Amazon (March 2022)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Deforestation in the Amazon (July 2019)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored progress. More info
East African Crude Oil Pipeline (March 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank monitored measures taken by its client to address the impacts associated with the project. Rio Tinto's Jadar mine, Serbia (December 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised. More info
ArcelorMittal steel impacts (June 2024)
0
0
0
n/a
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
n/a
Rationale for score
The impact was not raised over a year ago and therefore is not scored on monitoring progress. More info
See the summary of bank responses here.
Average
25%
0
0
0
0
Banks and Climate
Banks and Climate
The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Bank of America provided US$ 333.159 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, Bank of America provided US$ 14.742 Billion for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on Bank of America fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Bank of America’s fossil fuel policy below.
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Human Rights
BankTrack assessed Bank of America in its 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 6 points out of 15 and was ranked as a “follower”.
The bank scored 1.5 out of 3 points on the new “specific rights indicators”, which assess how banks address human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and environmental rights in their policies and practices.
In addition, Bank of America scored 0 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the “Accountability” section of this profile.
The table below shows BankTrack's assessment of how Bank of America has implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Please click on 'expand all details' and 'explanation' for further information on the methodology.
Our policy assessments are always a work in progress. We very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in the assessments. Please get in touch at humanrights@banktrack.org.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Bank of America
USA
6
Follower
6
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 6.5 points
7 - 10 points
10.5 - 14 points
For more details see this page.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2024
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Bank of America
USA
6
Follower
6
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Moderate achiever
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 7 points
7.5 - 10.5 points
11 - 15 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Nature
Banks and Nature
Bank of America’s policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 3.5 out of 10 and ranking it as a follower. Bank of America achieved a score of 3.2 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 5.9 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. In addition, BankTrack and the Environmental Paper Network have assessed Bank of America’s policies related to the pulp and paper sector.
Between 2016 and 2022, Bank of America provided USD 4,955 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors and held investments amounting to USD 27 million as of 2022. For more information, see the links below.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Overall scores
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Beef
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Palm Oil
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Tracking the NZBA
Tracking the Net Zero Banking Alliance
Bank of America is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.
Banks and Steel
Banks and Steel
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that Bank of America provided US$ 6.7 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on Bank of America’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.
Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of Bank of America’s metallurgical coal policy below.
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