Two New Bankers, Two Very Different Beats
Bank of America is quietly adding firepower to the team that helps tech companies make deals.
The bank has hired two new managing directors for its technology investment banking group, according to an internal memo that Bloomberg News reviewed on August 19, 2026. A BofA spokesperson confirmed the memo, which came from Karim Assef, the chair of global investment banking, and Faiz Ahmad, its head.
A managing director is one of the top ranks at an investment bank, the kind of person who brings in big clients and runs the deals the bank does for them. In tech banking, those deals can be huge.
One of the new hires is Asad Mahmood, who previously worked at Barclays. He starts this fall in Palo Alto, California, and will cover two fast-moving areas: semiconductors and quantum computing.
Quantum computing is the young field of building machines that can solve problems ordinary computers cannot. Semiconductors, meanwhile, are the chips inside everything from phones to cars.
Both are areas that have been drawing a lot of attention from investors and companies.
The other new hire is Gregory Reider. He is joining the bank's technology banking group in Brazil this week, where he will focus on Latin American tech and fintech.
Fintech is the shorthand for financial technology, meaning companies that use software to handle money.
Reider is not new to the region. He co-founded Volpe Capital, a venture firm focused on Latin America, and was its managing partner.
A venture firm is an investor that backs young companies, so Reider has spent years watching which Latin American startups might take off.
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The bank also brought in Richard Hardegree, formerly of UBS Group, as tech M&A vice chair. M&A stands for mergers and acquisitions, the business of companies buying other companies. Hardegree started last week and is also based in Palo Alto, placing him at the center of the technology investment world.
A Hiring Spree That Says Something
Mahmood and Reider are not one-off additions. They are part of a larger push that has brought more than 40 other managing directors into BofA's worldwide corporate and investment banking division this year.
The division is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and handles the biggest and most complex deals for the bank's corporate clients.
Hiring more than 40 managing directors into it in a single year is a strong signal.
Why would a bank do that? Because it expects more dealmaking ahead.
When companies buy each other or sell parts of themselves, they call in bankers to help arrange it. More bankers on the bench means the bank is ready to handle a bigger workload.
It also means the bank wants to win business away from competitors. Tech investment banking is a competitive field, and the biggest names in finance all want a share of it.
The fact that the bank is placing people in both Palo Alto and Brazil shows the push is global. Tech deals are not just happening in one region anymore, and BofA wants to be where the action is.
What It Means for Your Portfolio
So what does a hiring spree at one bank have to do with your money?
Investment banks do not stack up senior dealmakers just for fun. They do it because they expect companies to keep making moves.
For tech investors, that can matter a lot.
When a company sells itself, the buyer usually pays more than the current stock price. That can be a quick jump for shareholders.
When a company raises money or goes public, it can also create new opportunities.
None of this guarantees a wave of deals. Markets can slow down, and hiring plans can change.
But a bank this size does not usually make that kind of bet without a reason.
The people who arrange the biggest tech deals are getting ready for more of them. That could mean more movement in the stocks you already own, and a few new names on your radar.
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