Bank of America taps new leaders to bridge crypto, AI and traditional finance

Bank of America has appointed new leaders to spearhead the firm's digital assets and artificial intelligence strategies, following a trend of traditional financial institutions building specialized teams around the technologies.

Sonali Theisen was named head of BofA's global digital assets platform, while Kevin Milsom was tapped to serve as head of AI transformation, according to internal memos first reported by Reuters and Bloomberg.

Theisen will "oversee design, development, scaling and governance of the bank’s digital-assets platform" on top of her current role leading electronic trading and strategic investments across the bank’s fixed income, currencies and commodities division.

Her responsibilities will focus on bringing blockchain-based products into BofA's existing markets infrastructure, working alongside digital asset transformation chief Adam Dixon, who oversees "tokenized deposits and stablecoins, digital collateral mobility, cryptocurrency trading settlement and custody."

Milsom, meanwhile, is tasked with implementing AI across the bank's global markets platforms.

This follows similar efforts seen across many other Wall Street-native banks and institutions.