Bank of America
American retail and investment bank, second only to Chase at home, built out of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide after 2008.
7 figures on Bank of America, drawn from 2 Modern MBA case studies.
The figures
US dollars3
| Against its own chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue of the big bank credit card divisions and the payment networks, 2024, in billions | $17B | 8th of 9 · top $61B | How credit card companies actually make money |
| Swipe fees against reward costs and partner payments, 2023, in billions · Swipe fees | $13B | 3rd of 5 · top $33B | How credit card companies actually make money |
| Swipe fees against reward costs and partner payments, 2023, in billions · Rewards & partner payments | −$9B | 2nd of 5 · worst −$25B | How credit card companies actually make money |
Percentages2
| Against its own chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin of the big banks’ credit card divisions · 2008 | 2% | 4th of 4 · top 14% | How credit card companies actually make money |
| Operating margin of the big banks’ credit card divisions · 2009 | −20% | 4th of 4 · top 13% | How credit card companies actually make money |
Counts2
| Against its own chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit cards in circulation by issuing bank, 2024, in millions | 55M | 4th of 6 · top 154M | How credit card companies actually make money |
| US locations against the leading banks | 3,900 | 4th of 7 · top 60,000 | How Western Union makes money from the unbanked |
Case studies covering Bank of America
Case study — FinanceHow credit card companies actually make moneyThe swipe fee is not the business. The interest is — and the networks taking the blame were founded by the banks collecting it.15 min read
Case study — FinanceHow Western Union makes money from the unbankedIt has more US locations than Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, and Bank of America have branches combined.11 min readNew episodes
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