With $1.8 trillion in consolidated assets, Bank of America is second on the list. Its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, singlehandedly makes that city one of the biggest financial centers in the country. Though it is not the largest bank, this company is in fact the world’s largest wealth management firm, because it owns Merrill Lynch, a giant in that field. Bank of America has 4,265 branches in the country, only about 700 fewer than Chase. It started as a small institution serving immigrants in San Francisco at the beginning of the 1900s, that was, oddly enough, called the Bank of Italy. Bank of America briefly ventured into finance in China with acquisition of a stake in Chinese Construction Bank, which it later sold off.