Bank of America Surpasses National Percentage of U.S. Hispanic in Terms of Employment

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Hispanic associates make up 15.5 percent of the domestic workforce at Bank of America, surpassing the national Hispanic labor force share of 13 percent (1). Concurrently, the percentage of Hispanic associates at Bank of America also exceeds the United States' Hispanic population, projected at 13.7 percent by the United States Census Bureau.

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"At Bank of America, we are developing and implementing initiatives that will further the goal of establishing a work environment in which all associates are empowered and supported to do their best work and rewarded based on their contributions," said Geri Thomas, Bank of America's corporate diversity executive and co-chair of the Bank of America Corporate Diversity Advisory Council.

As part of its commitment to the Hispanic community and customers, Bank of America has worked to identify the financial needs of the Hispanic population and to develop the responding products and services. Importantly, all of its associates are trained to deliver these products and services in a manner that reflects its dedication to higher standards.

Bank of America ranked as one of the best companies for Hispanic employees in the upcoming September 2005 issue of Hispanic Business magazine, the ranking is a result of the magazine's first ever survey regarding best workplaces for Hispanics. The bank has the mechanisms, and more importantly, the people, in position to steward the ongoing promotion of diversity and inclusion of people of color at Bank of America. Fifty percent of the bank's new hires are bilingual, and 80 percent speak Spanish.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest 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 33 million consumer relationships with more than 5,800 retail banking offices, more than 16,600 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 13 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 150 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 85 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.bankofamerica.com/

(1) Fry, Richard. 2005. Hispanics: A People in Motion. Trends 2005: 72.