What it does: The Bank of America Philippines provides cash management, foreign exchange, and trade finance as an onshore platform.
Best known for: The regional branch in the Philippines is the Bank of America’s first one in the Asia-Pacific region.
Staff stats: more than 300 people in the Philippines
Financials: US$85.50 billion in total revenue for FY 2020
The good bits: Fresh grads can explore a career path in three diverse teams, aside from potentially enjoying a ‘well-defined compensation and benefits package’.
The not-so-good bits: has limited full-time employment opportunities for fresh grads. The bank may prefer to hire people as contractors for 12 months.
Bank of America established its regional division in the Philippines not only as the first one in the country. BofAML Philippines is also the pioneer unit in the Asia-Pacific region.
As the U.S.-based bank’s onshore platform, BofAML Philippines provides cash management, foreign exchange, and trade finance. Bank of America’s Asia-Pacific operations encompass 12 markets in 19 cities.
The multinational company also caters to Fortune 500 companies and around 67 million clients in the U.S. alone. Aside from financial products and services, it also offers asset and risk management, banking, and investment services.
Current and former employees agree that BofAML Philippines offers plenty of learning opportunities. Some of them even had the chance to travel across Asia for business trips.
Most insiders attribute the engaging environment to competent management, professional yet friendly colleagues, and different rewards and incentives.
The biggest challenge for fresh grads, though, are potentially long working hours and sluggish career growth based on insiders’ anecdotes.
BofAML Philippines’ biggest competitors are Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. These companies make up the Big Four U.S. banks that have regional branches in the Philippines.
Bank of America’s grants and volunteering projects in the Asia-Pacific region have enriched the lives of more than 570,000 people. Over 2,800 employees also logged more than 27,000 hours of volunteer work.
BofAML Philippines looks for people with a genuine interest in financial services, passion for serving clients, and leadership potential.
Young new hires should prepare to clock in long hours, which is typical in the financial services industry. In exchange, meaningful learning opportunities and lucrative perks await those who can overcome challenges and exceed expectations.
Fresh grads should expect six steps of recruitment at BofAML Philippines based on previous applicants’ experience:
Applicants should complete the first two steps before a recruiter decides if they should move on to the third step. BofAML Philippines advises fresh grads to rehearse and familiarize themselves with the HireVue platform.
Candidates for Global Markets and tech roles should prepare for two programming questions during the video interview. Some of the other common questions are:
‘As you know, businesses, the financial market and technology are changing faster than ever. Tell us how you keep up with changes in technology, the market or your field. And give us an example of something new you recently learned?’
‘Teams are often made up of people with perspectives and ideas different from your own. Tell us about a time when you worked on such a team? How did the differing perspectives lead to team success?’
On the other hand, the application timeline for APAC programs may also involve six steps:
For other roles such as contract-based positions, the company may take up to four weeks to complete the recruitment process.
Entry-level roles like client service representatives earn between Php19,000 and Php21,000 per month. The average monthly salary of associates and team members at BofAML Philippines ranges from Php25,000 and Php27,000.
Not much is known about the perks of working at BofAML Philippines, except that it’s a ‘well-defined compensation and benefits package’.
Fresh grads can explore a career at Bank of America’s three teams: banking, markets, and finance, corporate functions, and technology and operations. Each team consists of several smaller units.
BofAML Philippines hires fresh grads as contractors as part of the South-East Asia Local Talent Diversity Program (LTDP). There aren’t many opportunities to join the company as full-time, permanent employees.
Still, the LTDP allows fresh grads to acquire a broader yet in-depth understanding of the banking industry. The program offers 12 months of rotational learning in a designated department. The first rotation happens after six or nine months.
LTDP participants may join a team in Global Banking and Markets, Global Technology and Operations, or Control Functions.