Why do the core processes at the Bank of America require centralized information systems?

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Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, more than 18,000 ATMs and an online banking with more than 25 million active users. Bank of America offers services to more than 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In late-2008, Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, a long-standing, global investments and financial services firm.

Even if you are not a Bank of America customer, you have used some banks ATM system and/or online banking services. Whether you use an ATM or a bank Web site, you are employing an information technology platform to access banking services. The services themselves are enabled through powerful transaction processing systems that allow the bank to manage, as examples:

customer deposit accounts (a.k.a. bank accounts)

customer checking

credit card operations

consumer loans

corporate loans

mortgages

trust accounts

corporate checking accounts

corporate payroll services

certificates of deposit

and in the case of Bank of America because they now own Merrill Lynch a host of other investment management services

The ATM and Bank Web site allow you as a customer to access information about your own personal or corporate accounts and to carry out a range of transactions in a secure manner. From your remote location you are accessing vast computing power in the banks data center via data networks that provide the pathways for transaction data. The following questions require you to consider the business processes delivered to you as a consumer of banking services via an ATM and to help you explore the underlying information management requirements of the bank. Be detail-oriented in your thinking and presentation.