Bank of America
Bulge bracketA competency HireVue focused on your motivations and skills, then an assessment centre with technicals and the occasional curveball estimation question. Bank of America frames everything around Responsible Growth and its four values.
About Bank of America
The second largest bank in the United States, headquartered in Charlotte. Bank of America runs a huge consumer bank alongside Merrill wealth management, global banking and global markets, with its investment bank operating as BofA Securities.
- Founded
- 1904 roots, merged 1998
- Headquarters
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Employees
- About 213,000
- Total assets
- About $3.4 trillion
- Clients
- Nearly 70 million
- Main divisions
- Consumer Banking; Global Wealth & Investment Management (Merrill); Global Banking; Global Markets
Core values
The process
- 1Application & online tests
Online application plus online assessments.
- 2HireVue video interview
One way video, usually three to five competency questions with 30 seconds to read and two minutes to record. Focused on your motivations, skills, teamwork and understanding of the industry. Used across spring weeks and summer internships.
- 3Assessment centre
Competency and technical interviews, sometimes with curveball or estimation questions. For the investment bank, expect DCF, LBO, merger models and the three statements.
What Bank of America screens for
- A specific reason for Bank of America, ideally tied to its Responsible Growth strategy
- Fit with its four values: deliver together, act responsibly, realize the power of our people, trust the team
- Problem solving, teamwork and communication, which the HireVue assesses directly
- Structured reasoning on curveball and estimation questions
- Clear fundamentals at the assessment centre: DCF, LBO, merger models, the three statements
The AI marks your answers against this emphasis — not just a generic rubric.
Reported questions
12 questions · reviewed July 2026Aggregated from candidate reports across public sources and dated by how recently they’ve been reported. Each question is tagged by stage (HireVue or interview round) and by programme where it differs. Treat recency and frequency as a guide to likelihood, not a guarantee.
Motivation & fit4
Why Bank of America?
HireVueVery commonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Lead with something genuinely BofA: its Responsible Growth strategy, its scale as the second largest US bank, Merrill and its wealth franchise, or a specific division. Tie it to your goals and avoid a generic line.
Why are you applying for this position?
HireVueCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Show you understand what the role actually involves and connect it to your skills and a real interest. Specific beats polished.
Why do you want to do this spring or insight programme?
HireVueSpring weekCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
For a spring week, motivation is everything: what you want to learn, why now, and why BofA specifically. Show curiosity and a clear reason you applied here.
Why Bank of America over another bank?
InterviewCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Draw a real contrast: BofA's Responsible Growth, its balance sheet strength and its Merrill wealth franchise versus the alternative, connected to what you want. Vague comparisons get exposed.
Behavioural & competency2
Tell me about a time you worked in a team.
HireVueVery commonReported long-standingWhat a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Show real collaboration: your role, a disagreement you navigated, and the result. Maps to the 'deliver together' and 'trust the team' values.
Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem.
HireVueCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
STAR. Frame the problem, the options you weighed, what you did, and the outcome. BofA's HireVue assesses problem solving directly, so make your reasoning visible.
Commercial awareness2
What investment would you make if you had £100,000?
InterviewCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
A genuinely BofA reported question. Give a clear thesis: what you would buy, why the risk and reward stacks up, one catalyst and the key risk. Structure and reasoning matter more than the specific pick.
Estimate the financial value generated by tie sales in the USA.
InterviewOccasionalReported 2023–24What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
A classic BofA curveball. Do not blurt a number, build it up: US population, the share who wear ties regularly, ties bought per person per year, and an average price, then multiply and sanity check the total. They are testing structured reasoning, not the exact figure.
About you1
Tell us about yourself.
HireVueVery commonReported long-standingWhat a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
A 60 to 90 second narrative, not a list: where you started, the moves that led here, and why BofA is the logical next step. End pointing at the role.
Technical3
Walk me through a DCF.
InterviewSummerCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Project unlevered free cash flow, discount at WACC, add a terminal value, sum to enterprise value, then bridge to equity value and per share. Know each input.
Walk me through the three financial statements.
InterviewSummerCommonReported long-standingWhat a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
Income statement (performance over a period), balance sheet (a snapshot that must balance), cash flow statement (net income back to cash). Then show how they link.
Walk me through an LBO or a merger model.
InterviewSummerCommonReported 2024–25What a strong answer covers ↓Hide ↑
For an LBO: sources and uses, a debt schedule, cash paying down debt, then exit, with returns from paydown, growth and multiple expansion. For a merger model: combine the two companies' earnings and test whether the deal is accretive or dilutive to EPS. BofA lists both as fair game.
Interviewed at Bank of America recently?
Tell us what you were asked and we’ll add it here for the next candidate.