OREANDA-NEWS. Bank of America announced today that it has begun an initiative to enhance the accessibility of its online mortgage documents for visually impaired customers. The bank worked with Jessie Lorenz, a visually impaired customer, on the project.

Bank of America will continue to use Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA as the standard for ensuring that the content, features and services of its web pages and documents for mortgage holders are accessible to all site users, including people who are blind or visually impaired.

“Bank of America has been a wonderful partner with the blind community for over two decades,” says mortgage customer Lorenz, “Getting my mortgage information in a format I can read independently is critical to my ability to manage my finances. I congratulate Bank of America on this landmark initiative and encourage all financial institutions to follow the bank’s leadership role.”

Today’s announcement continues Bank of America’s long-standing commitment to customers with visual impairments. The company was the first to work with the blind community on a website accessibility initiative and to agree to a national talking ATM installation plan. In 2010, Bank of America announced that every ATM in its fleet was upgraded to deliver private, spoken instructions through a headset plugged into an audio jack in order to provide independent accessibility to people who cannot see an ATM screen.

Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 47 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 4,700 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning online banking with approximately 33 million active users and approximately 20 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.