Bank of America is reporting record digital usership and multiple granted patents on the heels of boosting its technology spend in the first quarter of the year.

“Bank of America has a deep culture of being innovative and exploring creativity,” Michael Young, senior vice president of global information security at $3.1 trillion Bank of America, told Bank Automation News.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank received the highest number of patents — 341, double the amount it received in 2021 — ever granted within the first half of any year in its history, according to a release.

The patents include six categories of development: programming technology; artificial intelligence and machine learning for financial services; information security; payment technology; online, mobile and consumer banking; and blockchain and data analytics. Information security innovation accounted for the bank’s highest overall number of patents at 71.

In total, the bank has received 5,556 patents pending or granted, according to the release.

Cybersecurity innovations

The information security team “takes cybersecurity very seriously,” Young said. “We’re constantly innovating with new ways to continue to mature the security of the information — not only of our customers or clients, but the financial records behind that.”

The team, which keeps data security and the protection of the money of clients at the “forefront,” set a goal to receive 1,000 patents directly related to information security, Young said. Without naming specific projects, the information security team is developing ideas in areas of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning, he noted.

Although the bank has more than 6,500 inventors based in 43 states and 14 countries, “every team [at the bank] is considered an innovation team,” Young said, noting that ideas come from throughout the bank and the inventors are available to help bring those ideas to life.

Self-funded tech investments

The achievements follow the bank’s increase in technology investments in Q1 and $800 million tech spend in Q2, Alastair Borthwick, chief financial officer at the bank, said during the most recent earnings call.

“We continue to invest heavily in technology, in people and in marketing across the business,” Borthwick said on the call, noting, “To help pay for those investments, we continued to look for opportunities to simplify our processes and reduce work, driving our costs lower to self-fund our new investments.”

The bank’s technology investments helped it reach record digital logins in July — 2.8 billion, an 11% year-over-year increase — which “marks the highest month ever,” according to a release.

Meanwhile, the bank is furthering its technology focus with a recent partnership with Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., to help STEM students acquire cybersecurity skills, upgrades to its client communications offerings in its digital app, and its multiyear partnership with wealth and management investment platform iCapital.

“Our commitment to and ongoing investment in best-in-class financial technology, along with a culture of innovation, allows us to deliver an integrated and individualized client experience, and solutions that are timely, relevant and secure,” David Tyrie, chief digital officer and head of global marketing at Bank of America, said in a release.

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