The Making of the Bank of America
Now that Bank of America is ubiquitous, its rise seems inevitable. It wasn't. It has taken more than 20 years of growth and acquisitions to bring BofA to its present status: THE LARGEST RETAIL BANK IN THE COUNTRY.
By
September 5, 2005

(FORTUNE Magazine) – January 1982 NCNB's Hugh L. McColl Jr. buys First National Bank of Lake City (Florida) for $6 million, the first out-of-state acquisition by any bank. Later in the year NCNB buys two more Florida banks, for a combined $225 million.

July 1988 NCNB acquires the subsidiaries of the failed First RepublicBank, which was based in Dallas.

1991 NCNB is among the first five foreign banks to obtain a branch license in Shanghai.

December 1991 NCNB merges with C&S/Sovran of Norfolk for stock valued at $4.3 billion. The new company takes a new name: NationsBank.

January 1997 Pays $10 billion for Boatmen's Bancshares (St. Louis).

October 1997 Buys Montgomery Securities of San Francisco for $1.2 billion.

January 1998 Buys Barnett Banks of Jacksonville for $15 billion.

September 1998 NationsBank merges with San Francisco--based BankAmerica in a $57 billion deal. The merged entity is renamed Bank of America.

April 2001 President and COO Ken Lewis succeeds chairman and CEO Hugh L. McColl Jr.

April 2004 BofA buys FleetBoston Financial for $48 billion.

June 2005 Agrees to buy about 9% of the stock of China Construction Bank for $3 billion.

June 30, 2005 Announces acquisition of MBNA for $35 billion.