Bank of America (Formerly Bank of America Merrill Lynch) is an American multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America. It provides services in mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, lending, trading, risk management, research, and liquidity and payments management. It was formed through the combination of the corporate and investment banking activities of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch & Co. following the acquisition of the latter by the former in January 2009.