According to a statement, the U.S. bank Bank of America has recorded a 94% increase in granted patents and pending patent applications in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) since 2022.
The company has nearly 1,100 AI and ML patents and pending applications in its portfolio, with more than half already granted. Overall, the bank holds nearly 7,000 granted patents and pending patent applications, making it the financial services company with the most granted patents.
“This is due 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 people and businesses worldwide,” BofA said in its release.
“We innovate to meet and anticipate our customers’ needs. As our pace of innovation accelerates, we continually listen to clients and create solutions to enhance and simplify their experiences,” stated Aditya Bhasin, Bank of America’s Chief Technology and Information Officer.
“This has been the case with our approach to AI, machine learning, and related technology over many years, focusing on the benefits for our clients and employees,” he added.
Beyond artificial intelligence and machine learning, other technology categories in which the financial firm has received new patents this year include information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality.
Bank of America spends more than $12 billion annually on technology, with approximately $4 billion allocated to new technology initiatives in 2024. These ongoing investments continue to enhance customer experiences and drive operational efficiency.
The Benefits of AI Expand
Bank of America’s approach to AI includes human oversight, transparency, and accountability for all outcomes. Some examples of how AI and machine learning are used include:
Erica: More than 45 million clients have used Erica, the most advanced AI-powered financial assistant and the first widely available. This widespread adoption has led to 2.4 billion interactions with Erica since its launch in 2018.
Wealth Management: Launched in 2020, Client Insights uses AI-enabled data analytics to help advisors at Merrill Wealth Management and Bank of America Private Bank identify, manage, and respond to changes in clients’ circumstances.
CashPro Chat: CashPro is a digital banking platform used by 40,000 corporate and commercial clients globally to manage their treasury operations.
Bank of America Intelligent Receivables: This reconciliation solution uses AI and advanced data capture technology to gather payment information and associated remittance details from multiple payment channels, offering greater efficiency and insights to businesses and their clients worldwide.
Intelligent Receivables matches payments with outstanding invoices, reducing time and costs associated with manual processing while accelerating reconciliation to enable new sales.
Global Markets: Bank of America’s internal chatbot leverages natural language processing and machine learning to answer queries that arise during the trading day, continuously improving the accuracy of responses based on previously answered questions. Deployed in more than 20 areas within global markets, the chatbot connects the company’s proprietary systems and databases to provide intuitive answers to trade-related queries.
