After raising its minimum wage to $20 per hour last year, Bank of America (BAC -0.13%) said it will hike the starting pay to $25 per hour by 2025 as it seeks to "attract and retain the best talent."
The banking giant also said vendors will need to pay their employees a minimum of $15 per hour if they want to do business with it, though it should not be a difficult hurdle as 99% of the 2,000 companies already meet or exceed the threshold.
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage for a teller, typically among the lowest-paid employees in a bank, is $15.85, already more than double the national minimum wage.
Bank of America's chief human resources officer Sheri Bronstein said: "A core tenet of responsible growth is our commitment to being a great place to work, which means investing in the people who serve our clients. That includes providing strong pay and competitive benefits to help them and their families, so that we continue to attract and retain the best talent."
The bank has been in the forefront of raising the pay of its employees for years. Over the past four years, it raised the minimum hourly wage to $15, then increased it again to $17 in 2019, and last year raised it to $20, one year ahead of schedule.
Since 2010, Bank of America's minimum wage has risen over $14 per hour, or more than 121%.
Last year Wells Fargo (WFC -0.56%) raised its minimum wage to $16 per hour while JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.49%) starts at $16.50, though depending upon where an employee lives, the bank employees' minimum pay could be as much as $18 per hour.
