Bank of America’s 18,000 financial advisors just got a new AI tool as the company posts a record quarter |
Bank of America’s 18,000 financial advisors just got a new AI tool as the company posts a record quarter
Good morning. Bank of America posted its strongest earnings in nearly two decades, and CFO Alastair Borthwick says AI is becoming key to the bank’s performance.
The bank reported on Wednesday that Q1 2026 net income was $8.6 billion, with earnings per share up 25% to $1.11, which is the highest level in almost 20 years. On a media call, Borthwick pointed to AI as an increasingly important driver, highlighting a new internal tool for financial advisors.
The Meeting Journey tool helps advisors prepare for client meetings by pulling together key information. BofA has about 18,000 financial advisors across its wealth management platform, serving millions of clients, he said. Before meeting with a client, advisors regularly need to update themselves with a wide range of information such as client history, recent activity, and CIO guidance, he explained.
The tool searches and consolidates client relationship insights and recent activity into ready-to-use prep materials and, with client consent, acts as an AI notetaker during virtual meetings. It also summarizes meeting decisions and next steps based on those notes. The goal is to cut down hours of manual prep and free advisors to focus on client relationships.
“Efforts like this translate into results,” Borthwick said, pointing to record first-quarter revenue and improved cost control.
Preparing for meetings once meant pulling data from multiple systems; now much of that work is automated, he said. “Not........