<p>NEW YORK — Bank of America plans to set the minimum wage for all positions at the company to $25 an hour by 2025. </p>
<p>It would be the highest minimum wage paid by a big bank and could pressure rivals to follow suit. Wages have been rising at major banks in recent years amid pressure from outside groups to address wealth inequality. </p>
<p>The bank will also mandate that vendors it does business with pay their employees at least $15 an hour. The bank says 99% of its vendors are already in compliance at that level. </p>
<p>Bank of America raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2017, to $17 an hour in 2019, and to $20 an hour last year, all under CEO Brian Moynihan.</p>
<p>The bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has more than 210,000 employees. </p>
<p>Increasing the minimum wage across all industries has been a push by Democrats for several years. President Joe Biden campaigned on raising the Federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from its current level of $7.25. The proposal did not make it into the $1.9 trillion economic relief package that passed earlier this year, but Democrats have pledged to push for a minimum wage increase in a bill later this year. </p>
