Good morning. The financial services industry is on the verge of entering the crypto economy, according to Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan. “It's pretty clear there's going to be a stablecoin,” Moynihan said in an interview with David Rubenstein on Tuesday. He added that stablecoins are digital assets like Bitcoin, but backed by the U.S. dollar—making them akin to a money market fund with check access or a bank account.
“If they make that legal, we will go into that business,” Moynihan said. Under President Trump’s crypto-friendly administration, lawmakers are seeking to pass legislation on stablecoins.
In practice, Moynihan explained, this means we could soon see the bank offer BofA coins linked to a U.S. dollar deposit account. “The question of what it’s useful for is going to be interesting,” he said.
Moynihan made the remarks at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Digital currency was among the topics that Rubenstein, chair of the club and cofounder of private equity firm the Carlyle Group, discussed with Moynihan. He also asked the chief executive how technology has already changed the way banks operate.
Bank of America (No. 18 in the Fortune 500) invests about $4 billion in new technology every year, Moynihan said. And running the system requires another $8 or $9 billion annually, he said. “So the impact is unbelievable,” he said.
BofA offered a mobile banking app for iPhone before other banks, Moynihan said. “Back then it was an unusual thing to have an app,” he said. “Everybody went to the websites. So that took off. We now have 40 million consumers who bank digitally with us all the time.” About 90% of the bank’s interactions with customers last year were digital, he said. The firm launched its AI-powered assistant Erica in 2018.
Moynihan also observed that, no matter how fast the technology may progress, the bank must also remember the human element. Currently, Bank of America still has about 3,700 branches across the U.S. and people want all ways of communication, he added.
There’s a “critical importance” of a person going into one of its branches and saying, “‘I’ve gotta figure out how to save more money, can you help me create a financial plan?’” he explained. “Or, ‘my mother's sick, I've got a power of attorney and I need you to figure out how I can manage her affairs,’” he said.
When it comes to using technology and offering a human experience: "You’ve got to do both,” Moynihan said.
And you can read about the parenting advice Moynihan discussed here.
