At the start of 2026, Bank of America's bankers got a new AI tool: a curated list of prompts meant to help them use artificial intelligence in their daily work. But it turned out that the bankers were already experimenting and teaching themselves faster than the prompt inventory could keep up. Within months, the prompts tool was canceled.
"We shelved that plan in favor of expanding our existing AI fluency training, a more flexible approach that allows us to grow and learn as the capabilities change over time," said Sharon Miller, president of business banking at Bank of America.
It's a small reversal, but it illustrates Miller's people-first approach to a division that's consistently ranked as the No. 1 small-business lender, according to the FDIC. Miller said her bankers interact with AI nearly 700,000 times a month. Yet when BofA built something bankers didn't actually want, it killed the tool rather than force its adoption. The bet, Miller said, is on human judgment over automation: technology in service of the relationship, not a replacement for it.
"At the end of the day, the important thing is the conversation between banker and client. Decisions are made at the table or in the factory," Miller said.
In February 2025, Miller became sole president of BofA's business banking division, which consists of more than 3,500 bankers serving 3.5 million businesses, ranging from startups through companies with up to $50 million in annual revenue. The unit is the result of a 2024 merger that combined BofA's small-business and business banking units in order to offer a more seamless experience as clients grow.
The changes are mostly structural: Local sales teams were consolidated and moved onto a single platform so clients don't have to switch platforms as they outgrow their small-business status. "The combined skills and expertise of these professionals will enable us to accelerate our market growth," Miller said.
"Now we can help clients from inception through going public. We are a local business with national capabilities," Miller said.
A year into the merger, the division's numbers indicate positive results. Revenue in 2025 was $8.1 billion, up 3% from a year earlier, while pretax net income of $3.2 billion climbed 8%. Miller said the improved performance is the result of a strategy that aims to elevate its presence in 97 local markets. Her ultimate goal is to reach 30% market share in each of them.
Miller personally travels to individual markets to meet with local teams, clients and community leaders. "Our biggest competitor is local banks," she said, adding that clients truly value local attention, combined with the power of national access. In the last few months alone she's visited Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia.
Her team is making progress. In Chicago, the bank has already surpassed its 2026 client-share target for the full year. In Omaha, one of its newest markets, client growth is up nearly 18% year to date. That's evidence, Miller said, that "we are committed to a market when we enter."
Bank of America has another avenue for local investment: It's the largest private investor in community development financial institutions, or CDFIs — nonprofit lenders that extend credit to small businesses, affordable housing developers, fresh food markets, health centers and other nonprofits in lower-income communities that are typically unable to work with conventional banks.
The bank has more than $2 billion in loans, deposits, capital grants and equity investments across 250-plus CDFI partners in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In December, BofA made a $10 million commitment to help small businesses and residents recover from the Los Angeles wildfires.
The portfolio isn't meant to be a profit center. "Our goal, which we achieve every year, is break-even or better," Miller said. "Returns are not material, but are sustainable — and that's where we want to be with this portfolio." CDFIs also give the bank an early look at future clients: some provide a startup's first capital before it has the track record to qualify for a loan at a mainstream bank. That's the line that runs through Miller's first year as sole president of the business banking unit: growth built one market, one relationship, one loan at a time.
