Remarks made during today's Annual Meeting of Shareholders may contain forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements are based on Management's current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from expectations are detailed in Bank of America's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the 2025 Form 10-K, available on Bank of America's Investor Relations website at https://investor.bankofamerica.com. Additionally, important information about non-GAAP financial measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, are also available on our Investor Relations website. I'll turn the call over to Brian Moynihan, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America.
Good morning. This is Brian Moynihan. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today by webcast. I now call the 2026 Bank of America Corporation Annual Meeting of Shareholders to order. Declare the polls open for voting. The meeting agenda and the rules of conduct for today's meeting are available on the virtual meeting website. Those rules are now in effect. In the event that anything interferes with our ability to continue to the webcast meeting prior to the closing of polls, please return to the meeting website or go to the Annual Meeting webpage on Bank of America Investor Relations website for plans to reconvene the meeting. At today's meeting, we'll hear remarks from our Lead Independent Director, Lionel Nowell. We'll present the proposals to be voted on during the meeting.
After all the proposals are presented, we will answer questions that pertain to the proposals from you, our shareholders, before the polls close. Questions can be submitted on our virtual meeting website. Please briefly state your questions in one or two sentences. After the polls close, I will present an update on our company. We'll then provide the preliminary voting results before concluding today's meeting. Following adjournment of the formal meeting, we'll then address general questions submitted about Bank of America's business for 30 minutes or so. If you have personal financial matters or questions related to your account, I just encourage customers to contact our customer service representative directly for personalized assistance through the link or phone number included in the rules of conduct for today's meetings. In addition to Lionel and myself, we are joined today by the other members of our Board of Directors.
They're all nominated for election at this meeting. Sharon Allen, Joe Almeida, Arnold Donald, Monica Lozano, Maria Martinez, Denise Ramos, Clayton Rose, Mike White, Tom Woods, and Maria Zuber. I would also like to recognize our retiring Directors, Linda Hudson and Pierre J.P. de Weck. Linda joined the Board in 2012 and most recently served on the Corporate Governance and Enterprise Risk Committees. Pierre joined the Board in 2013 and most recently served on the Compensation and Human Capital Committees and Enterprise Risk Committees. We thank both of them for the longstanding relationship and service to our company. Our Lead Independent Director, Lionel Nowell, will now share a few remarks. Lionel has been a member of our Board of Directors since 2013 and has served our shareholders well in his role as Lead Independent Director since the Annual Meeting in 2021. Lionel?
Thank you, Brian. On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Bank of America's 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. I would like to begin by expressing our sincere appreciation to you, our shareholders, for your continued support and investment in our company. As I reflect on my 13 years of service on the Board, five of those as Lead Independent Director, I continue to be impressed by the consistency, resilience, and discipline that defines Bank of America. Each year brings change and new developments. Yet year- after- year, the company has utilized these opportunities to deliver for our shareholders, clients, teammates, and the communities we serve. 2025 was no exception, showcasing continued momentum. This sustained performance is grounded in the four tenets of Responsible Growth: winning in the market, staying customer-focused, operating within our risk framework, and growing sustainably.
Responsible Growth remains central to how we operate as a company. The solid returns delivered over the past year reflect the commitment of our more than 213,000 teammates who execute on that purpose every day. The Board maintains active oversight across key areas, including Enterprise Risk Management, Human Capital Management, and our long-term strategy. We meet regularly with Brian and the Management team to assess performance, evaluate emerging risks, and consider strategic opportunities. Our discussions range from shifting market conditions to continued technological innovation, including advancements in artificial intelligence. Regardless of the business or economic climate, the Board's goal is to ensure Bank of America remains a source of strength and economic stability. Serves clients and communities well. And provides attractive financial returns for our shareholders. Your Board is committed to strong governance and objective oversight.
In my role as Lead Independent Director, I maintain a schedule of systematic engagements with shareholders and other stakeholders. Your perspectives are important in shaping our approach, highlighting concerns, and reinforcing areas of alignment. The Board is proud of the progress the company continues to make. This was highlighted at last November's Investor Day, when the Executive Management team talked about how the company is executing against its short and medium-term business strategies, driving growth around the world and investing in the future. I encourage you to review our annual report in 2026 proxy statement for more information. It is an honor to serve as your Lead Independent Director. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued trust and investment in Bank of America. I will now turn the meeting back to Brian.
Thank you, Lionel. Ross Jeffries, our Corporate Secretary, will now review the meeting rules and present the Corporate Secretary's report. Ross?
Thank you, Brian. As Brian noted, today we will consider the five items, three management proposals, and two shareholder proposals included in our 2026 proxy statement for shareholder vote. Shareholder proponents will have up to three minutes to discuss their proposals. After the proposals have been presented, we will close the polls, tabulate the votes, and announce the preliminary voting results. Shareholders will be able to submit questions on the virtual meeting website. In order to address questions from as many of you as possible during the meeting, we will limit each shareholder to two questions. Please briefly state your question in 1 sentence- 2 sentences. Lengthy questions may be paraphrased or summarized. Questions from multiple shareholders that are substantially similar may be grouped and answered once to avoid repetition. You may vote the shares you hold through the virtual meeting website until the polls are closed.
However, if you have already submitted your proxy to vote on these matters, you do not need to vote again unless you want to change your vote. Notice of today's meeting and the related proxy materials, or a notice of internet availability of these materials, were mailed beginning March 23rd, 2026 to shareholders of record as of March 13, 2026. Tony Carideo, a representative of Broadridge Financial Solutions, has been appointed Inspector of Election and is participating in today's meeting by phone. He has advised me that holders of shares representing at least 85% of the shares entitled to vote are present in person or represented by proxy, which constitutes a quorum.
Thank you, Ross. I declare that a quorum is present. I would like to take a moment to recognize the Bank of America teammates who are serving as proxies for today's meeting. My teammates are Sarang Gadkari, Co-Head of Global Capital Markets, and Brendan Hanley, Head of Global Corporate Banking and Leasing. Thank you, Brendan and Sarang, for joining us today. Also with us is Bernadette Geis, representative from a registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. We're now ready to consider the five items that are up for shareholder vote. You can now submit your questions regarding these proposals. We will answer them after all the proposals are presented and before the polls close. The three management proposals are proposal number one, electing our 12 Director nominees. Proposal number two, approving our executive compensation through an advisory, non-binding say- on- pay resolution.
Proposal number three, ratifying the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026. There are also two shareholder proposals that are included in our proxy statement to be presented. Proponents each have 3 minutes to present their proposals. Our first shareholder proposal relates to the appointment of an Independent Board Chair and was submitted by the National Legal and Policy Center. Paul Chesser has provided a prerecorded statement to be read during the meeting. It reads as follows.
Good morning. I'm Paul Chesser of the National Legal and Policy Center, presenting proposal four, which requests that Bank of America adopt a policy requiring that the roles of Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer be held by two separate individuals with the Chair required to be an Independent Director. This is not a radical idea. Approximately 60% of S&P 500 companies already separate these roles. The highest proportion on record according to the Spencer Stuart Board Index. The reason is straightforward. When the same person serves as both Chairman and CEO, he is, in effect, supervising himself. That is not governance. The case for change at Bank of America is reflected in its performance over time. Across multiple time horizons, the company has frequently trailed the majority of its major peers, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup.
While results improved in the first quarter of 2026, with approximately 16% Return on Tangible Common Equity, profitability has still generally lagged leading peers. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Bank of America reported roughly 14% on tangible common equity, compared to about 18% at JPMorgan Chase. Efficiency tells a similar story. Bank of America's efficiency ratio, the cost required to generate a dollar revenue, has remained in the low 60% range compared to the low 50s at JPMorgan Chase. That gap has persisted over time and points to a structural issue that requires sustained accountability to address. Even Wells Fargo, only recently freed from a multi-year Federal Reserve asset cap, has articulated medium-term profitability targets that meet or exceed Bank of America's own stated goals.
Yet the Board awarded Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan compensation of approximately $40 million for 2025, following a significant increase the year before. Rising pay alongside lagging relative performance is precisely the kind of outcome that Independent Board Oversight is intended to prevent. We're not asking for an unusual step. We're asking this Board to meet a governance standard already adopted by a majority of S&P 500 companies. A vote for an Independent Chair Policy is a vote for accountability, Independent Oversight, and Governance that puts shareholder interests first. We urge you to vote for proposal four. Thank you.
The next shareholder proposal relates to report on Board Oversight of risk related to animal welfare, submitted by John C. Harrington, President and CEO of Harrington Investments, Inc. Brianna Harrington will present the proposal. Ms. Harrington, you will have 3 minutes to present the proposal. You'll hear a double beep when you have 30 seconds remaining, and at 3 minutes, your line will be muted. Please go ahead, Ms. Harrington.
Good morning. Shareholders need to know whether and how Bank of America is exercising Board Oversight on animal welfare. Here are some key takeaways. Ensuring high animal welfare standards and financing is necessary for a sustainable One Health approach, linking animal health directly to human and environmental safety. Financial and reputational risks. Bank and investors face reputational damage and potential financial losses when supporting industries that violate emerging welfare standards or public ethical expectations. Perpetuation of cruelty. Financial institutions that fail to adopt strong animal welfare policies may unknowingly fund cruel practices like factory farming, animal testing, and habitat destruction. Financing infrastructure like factory farms locks in exploitative systems for years. Public health and disease risks. Poor welfare practices, especially in crowded, intensive farming, increase the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, diseases crossing from animals to humans. The overuse of antibiotics in these systems drives antimicrobial resistance, threatening human health.
Environmental degradation. Industrial agriculture, which often neglects animal welfare, is a major driver of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and water pollution. Ignoring this in investments contributes to habitat loss and climate change. Ignoring animal welfare and financial decisions causes significant negative impacts, including the perpetuation of industrial cruelty, environmental degradation, increased pandemic risks from zoonotic diseases, and long-term financial risks to investors. Failing to address these issues locks in exploitative high-risk systems, such as intensive factory farming and habitat disruption, rather than funding sustainable, compassionate alternatives. Thank you for your support.
We will now respond to any questions from shareholders related to the five proposals only to be voted on today. Lee McEntire, Bank of America's Head of Investor Relations, and Ross Jeffries, our Corporate Secretary, are here today to assist with the question. Have there been any questions submitted on the proposals?
Yes, Sir Brian. I will read the first question. The question comes from shareholder Melanie Colette. She is for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. She has two questions related to proposal five. I'll read them together. Are farmers, ranchers, or agricultural businesses applying for financing, are they evaluated against criteria beyond standard credit and financial metrics? She wants to make sure that the bank ensures that the ESG-based screens don't result in denying capital to legitimate American farmers and ranchers operating within the law.
Thank you for the question. Yes, we look at people who come for a proposal on credit across all businesses based on their business, the risk we see in that business, and assess it with our teammates that work on a credit decisioning. If people are operating in lawful businesses, we look at their proposals and make a decision based on the underlying cash flow of credit. We are a major lender to agricultural companies around the country and will continue to be so. Any other questions, Lee?
Brian, those are the only questions related to the proposals.
No, with there being no further questions, I declare the polls are now closed for the votes on the five proposals. I want to begin my update today as I always do. I want to first thank our Board of Directors. I want to thank the Management team, and importantly, the more than 212,000 teammates who work every day to deliver all this great company can provide to our customers and clients. Through that hard work, your company delivered strong results in 2025 and another strong first quarter. In 2025, we continue to help our clients navigate the changing economic landscapes around the world while operating in a complex, ever-changing environment. Factors like interest rates, inflation, geopolitical dynamics, and regulatory developments all shape the environment for financial services. We were ready to navigate these challenges.
Our robust balance sheet provided strength, our diversified business model gave us resilience, and our global and local scale provided efficiency. Our client relationships offered us insight, and our disciplined execution provided consistency. Our performance demonstrates the power of our leading banking franchise and our balanced business model. It also highlights how we set ourselves apart by bringing together capabilities and expertise across all our lines of business and delivering one company to each and every client and customer. Our commitment to Responsible Growth helps drive these successes. The factors that set us apart have required discipline and sustained investment. By focusing on the principles of Responsible Growth, we balance risk and reward, manage cost effectively, and deliver strong earnings and capital returns.
This year, we mark our country's 250th anniversary, celebrating America's position as a 250-year-old democracy. And as the largest and most successful economy in the world leads me to reflect on our company's path to today. America was founded on ideas that we continue to perfect every day. Democracy, innovation, entrepreneurship, risk-taking, all that could drive the success of this country. It's a land where any individual has the opportunity to do and be what they want to be or choose to be. Bank of America has been part of that growth story since the beginning. We can trace the oldest part of our company back to 1784 when a bank in Massachusetts was founded to help a nation realize its ambitions. Since then, as America expanded westward, we've been in all the communities helping support that growth.
Down the East Coast, all the way into the Carolinas, where the company is headquartered, and the company currently drives all the way west through Ohio to St. Louis and beyond, and then finally to the West Coast. We're proud to support the celebrations that are going on this year, recognizing this 250th anniversary. What we've done since the beginning was helping our customers, clients, markets, and communities travel through key moments in American history. We do that by doing what we have always done, asking our clients and customers what would you like the power to do? By understanding needs and offering the tools, advice, and support they can use to succeed will help support the people in achieving their goals.
As I said earlier, 2025 was another strong year for Bank of America and one that demonstrated durability of our franchise in a very dynamic global environment. We delivered strong financial results. For the full year, we earned $30.5 billion in net income after tax. That was an increase of 13% from the prior year. And an average per diluted share of $3.81, growing 19% over the prior year. We generated $113 billion in revenue. That reflected a balance between net interest income, which grew 7%, and non-interest income, which grew 6%. Our Disciplined Expense Management includes sustained investments in technology to enhance efficiency and improve client experiences, and also included further investments in our teammates to drive revenue growth.
At the same time, operational excellence initiatives and continued digitization efforts helped fight off inflationary costs of healthcare, among others. Revenue growth outpacing expense growth ultimately drove 2.5% operating leverage in 2025. Our revenue grew at a rate 2.5 percentage points ahead of the growth rate in our expenses. That delivers for our shareholders. Efforts to both grow and optimize our balance sheet are reflected in our capital returns and improved net interest margins. Average deposit balances increased 3% for the year to $1.98 trillion that year. Average loan lease balance increased 7% for the year to $1.14 trillion. Credit policy, quality also improved throughout the year. We demonstrated consistent credit discipline across cycles, including through stress tests and periods of economic disruption.
We believe the portfolio characteristic capital levels and liquidity position help us navigate uncertainty, and our underwriting standards continue to serve us well. For 2025, our return on average tangible common equity is 14.2%. Over the year, our stock performance improved 25%, outpacing the S&P 500 improvement of 16.4%. Returning capital to our shareholders remains a core priority. In 2025, we returned approximately $30 billion to our shareholders through common stock dividends and share repurchases, up more than 40% from 2024. That included the September increase in our quarterly common stock dividend to $0.28 per share. Capital strength remains a defining feature of Bank of America. We ended the year with strong capital and liquidity levels, providing flexibility to grow organically, absorb potential stress, support our clients, and return capital to shareholders.
As we moved into 2026, the first quarter was similarly strong. Net income of $8.6 billion after tax grew 17% year-over-year. Earnings per share grew 25%. We continue to see strong and balanced revenue growth. Through diligent Expense Management, we delivered 290 basis points of operating leverage while continue making ongoing investments in the future of the franchise. The results allowed us to report a Return on Tangible Common Equity of 16%. The balance sheet remains strong, with average deposit balances over $2 trillion. Average loan and lease balances grew 9% year-over-year and growth across every business segment. Asset quality remains strong.
We ended the quarter with a Tier 1 capital ratio well above the regulatory minimums, and we returned $9.3 billion to our shareholders in quarter 1 2026 through common stock dividends and share repurchases. We focus on delivering what clients value most through integrated industry-leading platforms, a balance of high tech and high touch, all delivered at the local level. We believe the key to long-term growth is developing our core relationships that begin with clients choosing us as a primary financial partner and trusting us with accounts that operate their day-to-day lives. Those relationships built on trust drive higher engagement, stronger retention, lower acquisition costs, and more durable profitability. We've invested significantly to build a model that combines high tech and high touch.
Our delivery network provides nationwide access to financial services and human expertise over more than 3,600 financial centers and approximately 15,000 ATMs. These are complemented by award-winning digital banking capabilities, serving about 59 million verified digital users. We continue to use those digital tools at Zelle. We reached a significant milestone in Q1 with 25 million active Zelle users, conducting 460 million transactions a quarter, totaling moving $147 billion. We believe this national footprint gives us unique advantage as clients move and develop over time, whether an individual changes cities, businesses expand across the countries, across our country, or global companies establish U.S. presence. Technology continues to be our foundational investment for Bank of America. We invest nearly $13 billion annually in technology, including $4 billion in 2025 just on new technology initiatives.
The investments are designed to improve efficiency, enhance client experiences, strengthen cybersecurity, and reinforce our risk and control environment. They also help us innovate scale. AI is critical to what we're doing here. We've been investing in AI for years, including the launch of Erica in 2018, which supports more than 20 million clients today and has handled more than 3 billion interactions since it launched. We have nearly 200,000 teammates using AI tools to generate ideas every day. Eighteen thousand of our technologists are using those capabilities to develop code, among many other uses across the company. AI is a powerful tool helping us improve the way and the efficiency of the way we serve our clients and customers here at Bank of America.
We already have more than 80 approved generative AI use cases in support of that, more will follow. Another way we fuel growth is through our partnerships with iconic brands, and particularly in sport. We leverage those partnerships to deepen client relationships, strengthen our brand, and create a long-lasting economic impact. It also allows us to engage teammates, forge stronger community ties, expand participation, and grow sports for the next generation. We're currently partnering with some of the world's most iconic brands, athletes, and events in sports, including global U.S. Soccer, with FIFA World Cup coming to the U.S. this summer, the Masters Tournament in Augusta, the U.S. Women's Amateur, and both the Boston and Chicago marathons, among many other things.
We continue to expand our programs on Sports with Us and our Golf with Us programs, which helps kids learn a sport and important life lessons on and off the field of play. At the core of everything we do is a conviction that capitalism creates opportunity for our clients, teammates, communities, and shareholders. We'll continue expanding pathways to help clients and teammates build our stronger financial futures. It also shapes how we support our teammates. From industry-leading pay and benefits, including increasing our minimum wage to $25,000 an hour, ensuring that all full-time employees now earn a minimum annual annualized salary of over $50,000. To give you more opportunity to pursue a career with us through hiring commitments over a 5-year period for veterans. Hire 10,000 veterans over the five years, including this year.
To community colleges, 8,000 new hires from each community college beginning this year, five years. We're also driving opportunity through workforce development. In 2025, we invested $40 million with 730 workforce partners to keep providing opportunity to over 90,000 individuals in living wage jobs and 250,000 people with access to training, education, and career readiness. All these efforts fuel our business. They reflect how we grow responsibly, support the communities where we live and work, and help create long-term value for our shareholders. We're committed to invest in our communities also. Investments from industry-leading parental leave and elder care to programs to support long-term savings, stock ownership, and education. These benefits have helped make our teammates among the most happy teammates to work for a company in the industry.
For the ninth consecutive year, we also gave our teammates and awarded them for their hard work, the Sharing Success program. Over the last several years, eight years, we delivered almost $6.8 billion to our teammates in stock to help reward them and align them with your interest. Last year, we announced a $250 million 5-year commitment to support families and communities supporting food insecurity. That build on the longstanding 1,000 support that we have for more than 1,000 philanthropic organizations based on combating hunger and affordability challenges across the U.S. As Lionel mentioned earlier, we had a 2025 Investor Day.
On that day, there was a great opportunity to talk to all of you about how we're executing our business strategies and driving growth around the world. How we've been investing in future, and how we've been working to unlock value for our clients, teammates, and communities, all to benefit you, our shareholders. That foundation that underpins everything is called Responsible Growth. That delivers solid results in any environment and instill a culture of durability in our franchise. We'll continue to follow those principles while maintaining our risk discipline, investing in long term, and operating with integrity and accountability. We continue to invest in our company, in technology, including AI, in the communities we support, in our brand, in our teammates, and our clients. We're gonna continue to do that now and in the future.
On behalf of my teammates, the Executive Management team, and Board of Directors, thank you for your investment in Bank of America. Now we're gonna go and have the results here. Ross, do you want to report on the preliminary results of the votes?
Yes, thank you. Our Inspector of Election reports on the following preliminary results. All 12 Director nominees have been duly elected to the Board of Directors, and all management proposals have passed. The shareholder proposal requesting an Independent Board Chair did not pass with approximately 32.6% support. The shareholder proposal requesting a report on Board Oversight of risks related to animal welfare did not pass with approximately 6.5% support. Final voting results will be reported in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission within four business days of the conclusion of the meeting. Back to you, Brian.
Okay, thank you. We've now completed the official business of the meeting, and the formal meeting is now adjourned. We'll now answer questions about Bank of America more generally. As a reminder, the rules of meeting are, remain in effect. If you have questions about a personal financial matter, I really encourage you to go to the link or phone number provided in the rules of the meeting for direct personalized assistance by my teammates. If we don't have time to answer your questions during today's meeting, please contact us directly through our investor relations website. As I stated earlier, we'll take about 30 minutes here. Lee, could you read the first question?
Sure. Brian, the first questions come from [Latifa Hewitt]. Latifa, your question is about specifying the roles, description, and opportunities of a shareholder and how do you access your portfolio. I would encourage you to read. There is a lot of in the proxy about the opportunities of a shareholder to engage, but feel free to contact the investor relations myself, you know, through our contact on the website. Brian, the next question is a question really about the economy. Comes from shareholder Jim Merrick, and it reads: Prior to the financial collapse, the previous CEO made comments about the dividend being safe and things going well for BAC. It gave me a big vote of confidence. Things changed in a hurry, as you remember.
You've made comments the consumer is doing well and is resilient. How are you seeing the consumer now? What would it take for you to change your mind about Bank of America and the economy?
I think a couple points there. Number one, as we look at what we've seen so far in the month of April and in the first quarter versus last year's first quarter and last year's month of April. You can see the consumer movement of money in the economy. Bank of America consumers' so-called spending, as we call it, have moved nearly $2 trillion, probably in the economy at this point. $1.75 trillion, probably. That's grown about 5% year-over-year. The spending patterns are impacted by higher gas prices, especially among the lower to moderate income receiving customers of Bank of America. The tax benefits from the tax law changes and the higher tax refunds are offsetting that, and deposit balances are growing.
If you had to step back and said what would change that hurt the American economy, because it's gonna be really around the question of employment levels. Right now, our teammates in our research department, which is one of the best in the world, think that the unemployment maybe peaks at, in the, you know, mid-4s, 4.6 or so. With that unemployment, which is through full employment levels in the U.S., that bodes well for the future. There are many, many different issues out there that we talk about, others talk about, Middle East war, the war in Ukraine, Russia, trade wars, tariffs, and other things. Right now, the American consumer continues to spend through that.
The credit quality of American consumer household, if you look at our statistics in the 1st quarter, reflecting prime credit quality households, is very strong, and we look for that to continue. I think our goal is to. If you think about what's happened since the financial crisis, 15 years, 17 years, 18 years, the financial services industry, the banking industry in particular, has gone through periodic stress tests with our regulators and on our own. And we build our companies generally to be much more resilient in times of economic stress. Whether it was a pandemic or whether it was the massive inflation and rates changing quickly a few years ago, you know, the company's weathered that all well and burned right through it and expect to do so in the future. Thank you. Next question.
Yes. Brian, the next question is a question on Governance or Policy. Comes from shareholder Jeff Pickett. The question reads: Over the last 12 months, there has been extensive attention placed on the outside influence of proxy advisory firms Glass, Lewis and ISS. Does the company support these efforts in the U.S. House and with the SEC?
We think that the shareholders who actually own the shares should vote and have the power to vote. Whether it's an institution that investors are given the right to vote their shares, they should do the work and vote their shares. Likewise, the individual shares vote. The good news is today we had 2.5 million shareholder accounts vote, which is a lot of shareholders. You can see as a result of those votes, you could hear what Ross talked about earlier. We believe there needs to be substantial reform on in how the proxy advisory system is working. I think it's something that needs to be looked at, the situation, technology capabilities of passing through votes, and all that stuff has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, 40 years since these enterprises developed, and people are taking a look at, which we think is a good thing.
Very good. Brian, the next question is regarding retail, and it comes from a shareholder, Daniel Cahill. The question reads: The annual report names retail banking as one of the eight business lines. There has been multiple changes to your branches. The annual report notes the opening of over 600,000 new checking accounts. How do you measure attrition in retail banking? Is it the number of closed accounts? How many of those or what metric was in 2025? I would just note, Brian, that Mr. Cahill notes the 600,000 new checking accounts, not net new checking accounts.
I think what Lee's pointing out there is when we disclose that the 600,000 + checking accounts, those are net new. That is the amount that come in net of all the attrition and gets to a net number of 650,000, 675,000 last year. The team has done a great job. If you look across the period, you know, 10 years or so, we've been able to reshape our distribution systems, whether it's the phones, whether it's the mobile and digital apps or whether it's the branches or ATMs based on customer preference.
We've expanded to many new markets that we weren't in 10 years ago. Those markets are doing very well, especially compared to the competitors of all kinds in terms of average deposits per branch and things like that. We feel very good about that. It's a fine-tuning of the distribution system and the delivery system along with the activity of the customers has changed. At the end of the day, the most important thing in all that, the customer satisfaction scores are at all-time highs in the consumer business in terms of their interactions and very strong. The prospect scores have risen nicely, and we'll continue to drive that along with the branding and stuff we talked. I think the simple point is that net new checkings includes all the runoff, which is very steady and really at an all-time low right now bumping along.
That net new checking counts as a net of that.
Okay. Thank you, Brian. The next question also came from Daniel Cahill, different topic. The question is: When will you reinstate the Annual Meeting in person?
We look at it every year based on what we see in terms of attendance and interaction. We also look at it in terms of the what others are doing. We're comfortable with the system, and we'll look at it again next year, each year- by- year. If you look at it, we reach a lot more shareholders because in the past when we had this meeting in a location, people had to travel to be there. The second thing is, if you look at the shares voted over the years, the actual people represented at the meeting and voting, the percentage continues to rise. Importantly, the number of people voting has more than doubled across the last number of years. We feel very good about the participation.
Brian, the last comment is a comment, and it's not really a question, but wanted to read for the shareholders. The comment comes from Isaac Willour of Bowyer Research. Thank you for the constructive and positive engagement with shareholders. We consider our engagement earlier this season as an excellent example of effective investor-company dialogue, and we particularly appreciate the good-faith sentiment you bring to the table.
Okay, Lee. Is that all the questions?
That is all the questions that have been asked, Brian. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Lee and Ross. Thank you to all the shareholders for your attention today. If you have any further questions that occur to you after the fact, feel free to get them to our investor relations team, and they'll respond to them. This concludes today's meeting. On behalf of myself, Lionel Nowell, and the rest of our Board of Directors and our Management team, thank you for being a shareholder and thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you next year.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining.