The Most Powerful Women in Banking, No. 7, Holly O'Neill, Bank of America

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Holly O'Neill got a big promotion this year. But after 30 years at Bank of America , she's used to big promotions.

O'Neill started her career at BofA in 1996, when she was a trainee and then a credit analyst. By 2021, she was president of BofA's retail business. And on April 1 of this year, her purview grew to include consumer and preferred banking, which serves mass-affluent clients and small business owners. Effectively, the promotion put O'Neill in charge of all consumer banking at the nation's second-largest bank. (She was ranked on her 2024 title of president of retail banking.)

"Huge opportunity," she told American Banker. "It's been an incredibly busy few months but a really positive transition, and I'm really excited about it."

In some ways, the transition was reminiscent of another key moment in O'Neill's career, when she was offered the chief client care officer position in 2018. At the time, O'Neill wasn't quite sure if she could handle the job. But in a leap of faith in her own abilities, she took the role anyway, and today she looks back on that decision as one of the best she ever made.

In August, American Banker asked O'Neill if she's faced similar moments in her career since then.

"Oh, all the time," she answered. "If you're handed something where you don't know what's behind Door No. 1, there's always a moment where you have to remind yourself, 'I've got the right skills, I've got the right mindset, I have the right resources, I can figure this out.'"

Though she's only a few months into her newly expanded role, O'Neill and her team have already notched some significant accomplishments. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue for the consumer banking unit was $10.8 billion, up 6% from the same period last year. And small business loans were up 8% year over year.

Going forward, O'Neill looks forward to expanding BofA's reach — both physically and digitally. The bank has pledged to open 150 new branches by 2027, including 40 this year and 70 in 2026. One flagship location opened in May in New York City; more will arrive this summer in Boise, Idaho.

Meanwhile, as artificial intelligence continues to develop, O'Neill hopes to make good use of agentic AI — a form of the technology that can make decisions on its own — to bring in more clients and improve the customer experience.

"That's what excites me, is what we'll be able to do for clients," she said.