Bank of America plans to raise its minimum wage to $20 an hour over two years.
The baseline will rise to $17 on May 1 and then climb to $20 in 2021, the Charlotte, N.C.-based lender said Tuesday. Bank of America, the second-biggest U.S. lender, 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 a press release.
"Saying thank you, celebrating great work and sharing our success further demonstrate our commitment to being a great place to work."
The bank said its minimum wage has increased by more than $4 an hour since 2010, and increased to $15 two years ago. The average rate for U.S. hourly employees is "significantly above" this level, it said.
Wall Street chief executives, including Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, will travel to Washington Wednesday to face the House Financial Services Committee, where a group of newly elected progressives 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.
