Bank of America Spent $4.1 Billion With Small, Medium-Sized and Diverse Suppliers in 2010

Bank of America today announced that it spent $4.1 billion with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses in 2010, the first year of a five-year commitment to increase spending with those suppliers during the economic recovery.

The pledge to purchase more products and services from small, medium-sized and diverse businesses was announced in June 2010. Bank of America initially committed to spend $10 billion over five years.

“In this challenging economy, businesses have told us that their biggest need continues to be more demand for their products and services,” said David Darnell, president of Global Commercial Banking, Bank of America. “Along with providing our full range of banking services to clients, we have followed through on our commitment to increase spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses. By purchasing more products and services from these businesses – across the country and in different industries – we hope other large companies will be inspired to join us in supporting this vital part of the national economy.”

The $4.1 billion in spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses included spending with new suppliers and additional spending with current suppliers, and was more than 28 percent of total supplier spending in 2010. These companies provide the bank with a broad range of valuable services and products, including advertising, furniture, cleaning, courier service, home inspections, legal services, landscaping, maintenance, photography, security and software.

In recent surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation’s leading small business association, the No. 1 concern for small business owners continues to be a lack of business. “While the economy appears to be improving slightly, many small businesses are still wrestling with limited demand for their products and services,” said Susan Eckerly, NFIB senior vice president. “In this environment, efforts by large companies such as Bank of America to spend more with these businesses are crucial to helping small businesses survive and thrive. That, in turn, could lead to more hiring and capital spending by these businesses.”

Bank of America has long been recognized for its world-class supplier diversity program, which helps grow companies owned by minorities, women, disabled people, veterans and service disabled veterans.

“Our pledge to increase spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses complements our longstanding commitment to increasing opportunities for all businesses and is a natural expansion of our mission to support the communities in which we do business,” said Ron Tate, Sourcing executive. “We continue to have strong relationships with our entire range of suppliers and encourage them to mirror our goal of helping create more jobs during the economic recovery.”

The supplier spending commitment is part of Bank of America’s broad support of small and medium-sized businesses, which includes more than $92 billion in lending to those businesses in 2010. The bank also is the No. 1 lender for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 program, originating more than $530 million in loans in 2010.

“As we continue working to make every good loan we can, we are pleased to increase our spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses and help create more demand for their products and services,” Darnell said. “Without question, that has been the biggest challenge for our smaller clients. We’re optimistic that our commitment to deliver more business to these companies will lead to more jobs and a healthier economy.”

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 approximately 58 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,800 retail banking offices and approximately 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in 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 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

www.bankofamerica.com