For Bank of America’s Raul Anaya, wildfire relief efforts are now a full-time job
Raul Anaya has found his next big project. He’s been tapped by the chief executive of Bank of America to step back from his day-to-day role as national head of business banking, one of eight major lines of business for the bank, to focus all of his energy on utilizing his banking expertise and network to spur a recovery from the devastating Southern California wildfires.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, and great leaders are coming together. It’s going to take a public-private partnership with business, philanthropy, city, county, state and federal government to make sure that the entrepreneurial spirit of Los Angeles continues,” said Anaya. A banker by trade, Anaya has been at the center of Southern California business growth stories and major transactions for 20 years.
He has worked with companies that have scaled from small regional operations to global powerhouses such as Vizio and Panda Restaurant Group. Along the way, he helped Anschutz Entertainment Group with its financing for downtown’s L.A. Live development, and he represented the Clippers when the team was sold in a $2 billion transaction to Steve Ballmer.
But this newest venture can’t be described as sought-after. As a longtime resident of Pasadena, he saw the devastation from the Eaton fire firsthand. As the leader of the Los Angeles market for Bank of America, Anaya made sure to support the bank’s employees and clients and then turned his attention to the greater Los Angeles community.
In the immediate aftermath of the wildfires, he assembled a team of 20 executives from every line of business. The group is working through short-term issues such as the immediate needs of those employees and customers. Branches in Altadena and Pacific Palisades that were destroyed by the fires were temporarily replaced by a mobile branch in Altadena and mobile ATM in Pacific Palisades to ensure that access to banking was not lost. Bank of America also provided support through an aggregate of $2 million in contributions to the Red Cross, Los Angeles Food Bank and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Longer term, it is thinking about ways to create construction loan products and flexible mortgages as homeowners rebuild. There’s concern that people have access to capital and are susceptible to fraudulent or predatory activity. Some of the bank’s experts, who helped with recovery efforts for other disasters such as hurricanes, flew to Southern California in the aftermath of the wildfires to lend support.
Shortly after the wildfires, he traveled to Bank of America’s Charlotte headquarters for an earnings presentation and provided an update on the tragic situation that was unfolding in Los Angeles to Brian Moynihan, chief executive of the bank. Anaya had already met with many local business leaders through his service on various nonprofit and business association boards, in addition to meeting with county supervisors and the Los Angeles Mayor’s office to provide support.
Shortly thereafter, Moynihan reached out to Anaya and suggested that he transition away from his business banking role to focus on the rebuilding effort, where he could utilize both the bank’s resources and his longstanding tenure as a community supporter.
“He reminded me of the history that we have as a bank going back to the 1906 earthquake and how we helped San Francisco recover by making capital available,” said Anaya about his conversation with Moynihan. “He brought that parallel to life.”
In fact, Bank of America is the oldest bank in Southern California, dating back to early 1900s Downtown Los Angeles, where it had branches located at 2684 W. Pico in Pico Heights and at the intersection of 7th Street and Broadway.
It has steadily grown into one of the country’s largest banks, with $83.1 billion in deposits for its Los Angeles County branches as of June 30, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That equates to a market share of 16.5% of total deposits countywide. The bank has around 6,000 local employees.
Anaya’s history in Southern California dates to 2005, when he moved to Pasadena to run commercial banking for the Los Angeles market. He carried personal experience with him that shaped his view of the banking industry as the son of immigrants from Mexico. His father owned an auto body shop in Brownsville, Texas, and needed capital but didn’t understand the rules and regulations around lending.
“My father was intimidated because he didn’t know what it took to get a loan,” said Anaya. “It shaped my view on how to support businesses. We need to do it in a way that makes it easy.” His first job was as a grocery store bagger at H-E-B, a local grocery chain in town. He moved up to a cashier role where he had an opportunity to meet and interact with customers. That experience helped him transition to banking, where he utilized those interpersonal skills to make connections with bank customers. His professional growth continued in Southern California as the head of the local market. Eventually, he was elevated to run commercial banking for the West Coast and then became head of business banking nationally six years ago.
Under his leadership, Bank of America expanded the contributions made by executives to nonprofits throughout the region with professional expertise and funding. Local executives sit on more than 100 boards of nonprofits in Southern California. Additionally, it contributes $10 million annually to local charitable organizations.
“We bring our experience and view of the overall local economy to the nonprofits by being active and civically involved,” Anaya said.
Prior to the fires, Anaya’s typical week involved travelling across the country to meet with clients in 200 different cities. With his new role, which is slated to last through the year or potentially much longer, the same energy has been laser focused on coalescing a group of banking and finance executives to leverage their expertise and experience for recovery efforts. He estimates it could take five to seven years or more to rebuild the destroyed areas.
In the aftermath of the fires, Mayor Karen Bass also asked Anaya to help organize local banks and serve as a sounding board on behalf of the industry. The goal was for the mayor to assemble a group of eight experts across different industries who could leverage their sector’s collective knowledge on the myriad of issues surrounding this unprecedented disaster. Anaya contacted heads of several local banks and then went a step further to engage with asset management firms such as Capital Group, TCW and Oaktree Capital Management who have all shown tremendous willingness to help. He has also been in regular contact with Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
“Now my typical week is meeting for breakfast, lunch and dinner with business leaders and sharing my perspective and hearing their perspective,” he said. Another area where he engaged was with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. He serves on its board of directors and co-leads its CEO Council, a group of 100 chief executives launched in November 2021. In response to the wildfires, the group is assembling subject matter experts around insurance, construction and design services and other sectors.
Separately, the chamber established a small business recovery fund with a donation from Bank of America and other companies. The goal is to raise $10 million that can fund grants of $25,000 to help businesses that have been impacted by the fires directly or indirectly, such as by a loss of customers.
“Raul is an exceptional leader and has been instrumental in helping the chamber launch the Small Business Disaster Recovery Fund,” said Maria Salinas, chief executive of the chamber. “Aside from Bank of America’s financial commitment, Raul helped us think through our recovery and relief work to maximize support to small businesses impacted by the wildfires. I value his thought leadership and commitment to drive for impact as we plan our recovery efforts,” she said.
Looking ahead, Anaya is searching for creative ways to help the community. For example, Bank of America is the official bank of FIFA and the 2026 World Cup that is coming to North America. In the lead up to the event, there are various games and soccer events, such as a club championship where well-known international teams will compete at venues including SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Bank of America plans to leverage its sponsorship by inviting small businesses impacted by the fires to utilize its corporate sponsorship spaces at these matches.
“I love to bring our connections and clients together,” Anaya said.
