Bank of America today announced a record-breaking year for patents received in 2021, with 512 patents granted across technology categories, a 16 percent increase from 2020.

The company’s focus on patent development is derived from the expectation that the innovation developed will enhance our clients’ experiences and financial journeys in a meaningful way.

Our Bank of America teammates are the most creative and inspiring minds in financial technology,” said Aditya Bhasin, Chief Technology and Information Officer for Bank of America. “Their client-focused passion for turning ideas into innovation ensures we are continually ideating and delivering capabilities and digital solutions that help our clients live better financial lives.”

The bank’s patent growth was driven by increases in patents granted in central categories, including a 31% increase in AI patents, 86% in blockchain patents, 32% in data analytics patents, and a 40% increase in payment-related patents. Bank of America’s technology workforce is creating the tools and applications to better meet our clients’ needs, while ensuring that client data is safe and secure.

The patents covered a number of areas, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, information security, data analytics, mobile banking, and payments. This record was achieved as the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued about 7% fewer patents overall in 2021.

More than 1,000 Bank of America employees applied for 804 patents companywide in 2021, an increase of 11% over 2020. With another record-setting year for patents, Bank of America also moved from 106^th to 86^th on the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s Top 300 list of patent owners (PDF).

Cameron Wadley, a technology senior vice president, is one of the company’s inventors. He recently filed patent applications related to the valuation of non-fungible tokens. Wadley also leads 27 people who focus on technology accessibility and business enablement for our client-facing channel and payment platforms.

“What drew me to technology in the first place was the appeal of solving problems creatively,” he said. “Bank of America has nurtured my intellectual curiosity over the years, leading to a variety of patents that solve real problems for our clients.”

The bank’s diverse workforce is constantly improving and enhancing the company’s technology systems. While less than 17% of inventors nationwide are women, 26% of Bank of America’s inventors are women.

"I was inspired to get involved with innovating and patent development by a previous manager who always challenged our team to come up with new ideas," said Ann Ta, senior payment channels architect. "The patents I’ve worked on are related to my role and designed to enhance the client experience."

Bank of America’s focus on patents demonstrates the bank’s commitment to diversity and the importance of teamwork, with innovation being a part of everyone’s job. The bank’s total active portfolio coming into this year was 5,191 inventions from more than 6,000 inventors across 42 states and 13 different countries.

Examples of patents granted in 2021 include:

• Integration of human agent and automated tools for interactive voice response (IVR) systems
  The invention enables the seamless transfer of a customer, including authentication credentials, between the automated and live agent customer service environments to most efficiently meet the customer’s needs.
• Digital integration token
  The invention uses biometrics on a mobile device for authentication into the bank's CashPro® mobile application.
• System and method for analyzing and remediating computer application vulnerabilities via multidimensional correlation and prioritization
  The invention improves security and privacy by providing new ways to analyze, prioritize, and apply updates to software code.

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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 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, including approximately 2,700 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and approximately 2,400 business centers; approximately 17,000 ATMs; and award-winning digital banking with approximately 39 million active users, including approximately 31 million mobile 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 3 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 approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Reporters May Contact:

Catherine Page, Bank of America
Phone: 704-519-7314
catherine.page@bofa.com

Image description: The Technology Categories for the 512 Patents Granted in 2021 doughnut graph. From left to right,

• Eighteen percent were Mobile and Consumer Banking related
• Twenty percent were Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning related
• Four percent were Technology Infrastructure related
• Seventeen percent were Information Security related
• Sixteen percent were Programming Technology related
• Nine percent were Data Mining and Analytics related
• Eight percent were Payment Technology related
• Eight percent were Blockchain related