Bank of America plans to raise minimum wage to $20 an hour

Bank of America, the second-biggest U.S. lender, plans to raise its minimum wage to $20 an hour over two years.

The baseline will rise to $17 on May 1 and then to $20 in 2021, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender said Tuesday in a statement. Bank of America has more than 205,000 employees.

“We are raising our minimum wage because we believe that to best serve our customers and clients, we need the best teams,” Sheri Bronstein, the company’s chief human resources officer, said in the statement. “Saying thank you, celebrating great work and sharing our success further demonstrate our commitment to being a great place to work.”

Wall Street chief executive officers, including Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, will face the House Financial Services Committee in Washington Wednesday, where a group of newly elected progressive Democrats are likely to grill them on topics ranging from gender gaps in bank compensation, stock buybacks and financing for private prisons and oil and gas pipelines.

Bank of America said its minimum wage has increased by more than $4 an hour since 2010, including a move to $15 two years ago. The average rate for U.S. hourly employees is “significantly above” this level, according to the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. last year raised hourly wages to between $15 and $18 after a Republican-led tax overhaul, and Wells Fargo & Co. increased the minimum to $15 an hour for 36,000 U.S.-based staff in March 2018.