What was Bank of America originally established as?

The story behind the answer

Bank of America began as the Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in San Francisco in 1904 to serve immigrants and working-class customers overlooked by other banks. After the 1906 earthquake, Giannini famously set up a makeshift counter on a wooden plank to provide quick loans, cementing the bank’s community-first reputation. In 1928, his Bank of Italy merged with Bank of America, Los Angeles, and soon adopted the Bank of America name.

Remember it this way: “From Italy to America”—an immigrant-focused Bank of Italy grew into Bank of America. The other options are red herrings: Bank of Pennsylvania was an early Philadelphia bank unrelated to today’s BofA, and the Charlotte and Long Island names don’t match the company’s West Coast origins.