Competition for small-business banker hires has ramped up over the past 18 months, something Bank of America’s Sharon Miller attributes to the plethora of opportunity entrepreneurs offer. 

“When I look at the openings for jobs in this space at some of our major competitors, they’re up over 105% versus this time last year,” Miller, BofA’s president of business banking, said during a recent interview.

That’s because large banks see business owners as a fountain of leads, from the ability to serve their business, personal banking and potentially wealth needs, to handling workplace benefits and serving their employees. And many have expressed intentions to grow in this area, from Wells Fargo to U.S. Bank to Capital One.  

“Other banks are figuring that out,” Miller said. “People are after this space, it’s a competitive marketplace. And we’re doing what we can to attract new talent and retain our own.” 

That includes developing talent from within. Business solutions advisers in the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender’s branches are trained to assist business owners and often make strong relationship manager hires, she said. 

“Where we can hire someone that already knows our systems, that knows how we operate and can move into working with larger and larger clients, that’s a good thing for us,” Miller said. “We want to keep the employees that we have,” and “helping them grow is a key way we can do that.”

BofA also hires from banks of all sizes. The lender’s national reach and ability to serve business owners across various needs aid the bank in attracting talent, Miller said.

Bank of America’s business-banking segment serves about 3.4 million small and midsize clients who generate up to $50 million in annual revenue. 

Miller declined to share the number of bankers the lender has brought on this year, but said BofA continues to evaluate its staffing levels and hire relationship managers, taking a particular look at the top 20 U.S. markets by gross domestic product. 

The $3.5 trillion-asset bank is also hiring centralized business advisers, who work from contact centers to cover clients where the bank doesn’t have a physical footprint, she said. BofA had about 2,125 business solution advisers, relationship managers and senior relationship managers as of the bank’s investor day last November.

BofA is working toward a long-term target, laid out at its investor day, of reaching 30% business client share in the 50-some markets it serves. Currently, the bank’s national average is 27.6%, compared to 27% in November 2025, Miller said.   

In addition to the client share metric, “we look at, are we growing loans? Are we growing deposits? What does our brand look like for prospect favorability, client favorability?” she said.

The bank, which strives to be a business’s primary operating account, has been the top small-business lender for about five years. BofA feels competitive pressure from banks of all sizes, although mainly from the biggest banks and regionals, Miller said.

Given that competition, the bank aims to improve its speed to market. BofA continues to invest in AI tools, including in its credit department, to underwrite faster and more efficiently, Miller said. 

She pointed to an AI agent in production in the bank’s practice solutions space – which serves doctors, dentists and veterinarians – that is reducing the time it takes to gather and process paperwork from three hours to 15 minutes.

“We expect to put that across our entire business in 2027, because it’s working,” Miller said. 

That’s an AI use that’s bolstering efficiency, as well as revenue generation, she said. A business might have a deadline to secure funding to close on a building, meaning AI tools that speed up the process make a notable difference. 

“You might lose a deal because you're not as fast as your competitor,” Miller said. “We should be able to get more commitments to us, because we can get that done by the time the client needs it.”

The business-banking segment’s entrance into new markets, such as Omaha, Nebraska, can be difficult, she said. Although digital tools are important to serving customers, banker outreach and fostering relationships are essential to new client acquisition, she said.

“We’ve got to build those relationships. It takes time,” Miller said. “For all the good AI and all the technologies we have … it doesn’t take the place of those across-the-desk conversations.” 

Given the bank’s scale, getting out into markets, rather than connecting via video call, is vital to ensuring a high level of client outreach and service, Miller said. “That’s what we talk about a lot.” 

“You really have to be there in that moment,” she said. “We’ve got to go to our clients. We’ve got to go to our prospects. We’ve got to understand their needs and advise them on how we can help. … People want that connection.”

Still, in vying for business with other banks and fintechs, investments the bank can make in its cash management and money movement tools are a key differentiator for serving business clientele, Miller contended. 

“There are very few competitors that even can have that sort of platform available for clients,” she said.