Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that the company has enhanced its cybersecurity spending to over $1 billion a year, CNBC reported.
Bank of America has increased its spending on cybersecurity to over $1 billion per year now as against $300 million per year 11 years ago.
“I became CEO 11 and a half years ago, and we probably spent three to $400 million per year and we’re up over a billion now,” Brian Moynihan told CNBC.
Spending on security hardware, services, and software in Asia Pacific is expected to grow 12.6 percent to reach $23.1 billion in 2021, according to the latest IDC report.
Bank of America reported net income of $8.1 billion on revenue of $22.8 billion during the first quarter of 2021. Bank of America’s noninterest expense rose 15 percent to $15.5 billion. This includes spending on IT infrastructure
“The institutions around us, other institutions and my peers, spend like amounts, and our contracting parties spend like amounts,” he added. “In other words, we cause spending in third parties that provide services to us to protect us in the same way. So there’s a lot of money being spend on this, and I think one of the things our industry has done a great job of is work together.”
Last month, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at strengthening U.S. cybersecurity defenses. The Biden administration is moving to treat ransomware attacks as a national security threat.
Bank of America, according to its website, serves 66 million consumer and small business clients in the United States with 4,300 retail financial centers, including 2,700 lending centers, 2,600 financial centers with a Consumer Investment Financial Solutions Advisor and 2,400 business centers; 17,000 ATMs; and digital banking with 40 million active users, including 31 million mobile users.
