Context: Bank of America (BoA) is one of the world’s largest financial services companies. United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is an insurance and financial services provider exclusively serving United States military personnel, veterans, and their families.
What’s new: USAA and BoA have entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Direct impact: The companies’ joint announcement suggests the agreement will cover patents relating to “artificial intelligence, machine learning, information security, and network infrastructure, as well as bankingāspecific capabilities such as payment processing and mobile check deposit”.
Wider ramifications: It’s noteworthy that two financial institutions are entering the kind of cross-licensing deal that previously would’ve been seen purely as the province of “tech companies”. And the deal doesn’t strictly relate to finance-related technologies, either; pointing to the indispensability of software, connectivity, and AI-enabled technologies across industries. By one count, BoA holds the ninth-largest portfolio of granted U.S. patents relevant to AI, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia (May 21, 2026 ip fray article). Capital One is another financial business that appears in the top 10.
In the joint announcement, David Marx, Business Management and Controls Executive at BoA, said his company’s culture “empowers our employees to explore and develop innovative solutions for individual and corporate clients [and this] is reflected in the size and ongoing growth of our patent portfolio”.
The licensing agreement with USAA appears to have been reached without litigation.
However, USAA has previously sued other parties for patent infringement in U.S. district courts.
In one such case against PNC Bank, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas awarded USAA more than $218 million in damages. That May 2022 verdict was overturned last year on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found USAA’s patents invalid; the U.S. Supreme Court declined USAA’s petition to review the decision (May 18, 2026 San Antonio Express-News article).
In two Eastern District of Texas cases against Wells Fargo, USAA secured jury verdicts amounting to over $302 million in damages (November 6, 2019 USAA press release); the parties later settled out of court (February 17, 2021 Bloomberg article).
USAA has also settled patent infringement claims with Truist (October 5, 2023 USAA press release) and Regions Bank; and struck a licensing deal with Discover Financial Services for patents covering remote deposit capture (RDC) technology (August 28, 2023 USAA press release).
“We look forward to working with other banks and credit unions to create mutually beneficial licensing agreements, just as we have done with [BoA]”, said Mike Chaparro, Investments Principal at USAA, in today’s joint press release.