Good morning. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan is more interested in using AI to augment work rather than replace people.
Bank of America (No. 17 on the Fortune 500) held its first investor day in nearly 15 years on Wednesday in Boston, outlining its strategic growth plans—many of which are supported by AI. I attended a media roundtable with Moynihan, who addressed whether advances in AI could affect headcount.
There may be more people dedicated to activities that are augmented by technology to create more growth for the company, said Moynihan, who has served as CEO since 2010.
“I don’t really want to say to people, ‘I can see this taking our overall headcount down,'” he said. What he can see is greatly augmenting the amount of work done. So if AI results in 10% or 15% efficiency gains, you can reinvest that to grow faster, or you take it to the bottom line, he explained.
“All 213,000 people are getting access to AI as we speak,” Moynihan said. One example he offered is training on new coding methodologies, including GitHub.
“We have steadily increased our spend on technology, now up to $13 billion a year, of which $4 billion goes toward strategic growth,” Hari Gopalkrishnan, a 14-year veteran of Bank of America who was promoted to chief technology and information officer in late July, told Fortune’s John Kell. “We leverage it across the enterprise so every dollar we spend gets the maximum bang for the buck, as opposed to being siloed by line of business.”
Those strategic bets are part of the $118 billion in technology investments the company has made over the past decade, according to Gopalkrishnan.
Bank of America EVP and CFO Alastair Borthwick said during the event that the bank is well on its way to delivering 6% to 7% growth for net interest income (the money a bank makes on its loans after it pays interest to depositors) in 2025. He also said the bank has set a compound annual growth rate target for net interest income of 5% to 7% over the next five years.
“A lot has happened over the past 10 years with extraordinary events in the economy and banking landscape,” Borthwick said. “During that time, our responsible growth strategy has driven organic growth with our client base—deepening relationships with existing clients and adding new ones over time.” Bank of America has also maintained expense discipline through digital operational improvements and AI, he said.
Have a good weekend.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
