Wilmington, Del. – Whether it’s the best in banking is a matter of opinion, but Bank of America is indisputably the biggest when it comes to deposits, branches and now – thanks to its purchase of MBNA Corp. – credit cards.
Its $35 billion buyout of MBNA caps a 25-year buying spree that transformed a midsize bank that did business in North Carolina into the first nationwide bank with branches from coast to coast.
The acquisition of MBNA, completed Jan. 1, made the Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, with an estimated 11,800 employees, the largest U.S. credit-card issuer, with about 20 percent of the market.
Bank of America has 5,800 branches in 29 states, and about $600 billion in deposits.
For two decades, MBNA was a dominant force in Delaware. The credit-card-issuing bank became the state’s biggest business employer, with more than 10,000 workers, and one of its biggest benefactors, giving tens of millions of dollars to schools and charities.
Now plans are underway to gradually “rebrand” former MBNA buildings and credit cards with the Bank of America name and logo.
