Bank of America did not shy away from technology during its first-quarter earnings presentation today.

Digital metrics were strong for the $3.24 trillion bank, reflecting successful technology investments and a bankwide drive toward digitization. The Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant has spent heavily on technology over the past 12 years, and Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick said that spending is set for an increase in 2022.

“We modestly increased our full-year new tech initiative budget for the year to $3.6 billion,” Borthwick said during the call. “And that’s on top of more than $35 billion that we put to work over the past 12 years to help us build powerful, more secure and scalable technology platforms.”

Erica and Zelle

The bank’s financial digital assistant Erica and digital payments platform Zelle have particularly strong momentum, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said.

“Zelle and Erica volumes are up more than four times from pre-pandemic levels,” Moynihan said during the call.

Total Erica users topped 26 million in Q1, and interactions with the chatbot reached 124 million, up 17% year over year. Erica interactions within the bank’s Merrill investment division rose 19% YoY, with advisors receiving 2.2 million client insights, while Private Bank Erica interactions grew 24% YoY. Bank of America Private Bank provides private banking and wealth management services to clients.

Bank of America’s Zelle transactions saw similar success in Q1, with 16.2 million total users — a 20% YoY increase — sending $65 billion through 213 million transactions. Zelle transactions also surpassed physical checks for the first time, with 140 million in Q1, up 25% YoY.

Digital channel growth

Results were also strong for the bank’s CashPro platform, which streamlines financial management and data access in a tokenized mobile app. The app facilitated $454 billion in payment approvals, skyrocketing 118% YoY, while sign-ins reached 1.7 million, a 51% YoY increase.

Payments to digital wallets rose 38% YoY to 1.6 million, and account enrollments for commercial cards cleared 63,000, a 54% YoY increase. Digital wallet transactions at the Private Bank shot up 66% YoY.

Other digital metrics from Bank of America’s Q1 earnings include:

• Consumer digital sales comprise 53% of total consumer sales;
• Mobile banking users reach 33.6 million, up 7% YoY;
• 81% of Merrill households and 85% of Private Bank households are digitally active; and
• 512 patents granted in 2021, with the bank expecting a similar pace in 2022.

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