# Bank of America vs Relay: which do AI models recommend for business banking, October 2026

Finance AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, Business banking. Two of fourteen models named Bank of America first on the direct prompt; zero named Relay. Page: https://finance-ai-index.com/treasury/business-banking/bank-of-america-vs-relay/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America | 4% | #6 of 14 | 19% | 36 | 13 of 14 |
| Relay | 4% | #8 of 14 | 27% | 26 | 14 of 14 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- DeepSeek V4 Flash: bank of america first (first choices: Bank of America, Chase Business Banking) (alternatives: Capital One)
- Muse Glimmer 30B: bank of america first (first choices: Bank of America, Chase Business Banking)
- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (first choices: Chase Business Banking) (alternatives: Bluevine Premier Business Checking, KeyBank, Relay)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking) (alternatives: Bank of America, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Rho) (alternatives: Bank of America, Brex, Chase Business Banking, Mercury, Ramp)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Chase Business Banking) (alternatives: Bank of America, Capital One)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Ramp) (alternatives: Aspire, Bank of America, Chase Business Banking, Mercury, Oxygen Banking)
- Kimi K2: neither first, one named (first choices: Chase Performance Business Checking) (alternatives: Brex, Mercury, Relay)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither first, one named (first choices: Mercury) (alternatives: Airwallex, Bank of America, Brex, Chase Business Banking)
- GPT-6 Luna: neither first, one named (first choices: J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking) (alternatives: Bank of America, Citibank, U.S. Bank)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither named (first choices: Rho) (alternatives: Airwallex, Brex, Capital One Enhanced Checking)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Capital One) (alternatives: PNC Bank Treasury Enterprise Plan, Truist Bank, Wells Fargo)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: PNC Bank) (alternatives: Capital One, First Internet Bank, Rho, Wise Business)

## What the models said about Bank of America

- "Widely criticized by small businesses for high monthly fees and rigid compliance requirements." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Long holds on business deposits (7+ days), payment issues, account freezes, poor support." (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "BOA sees a high volume of CFPB complaints regarding account closures." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Bank of America Global Commercial Banking with Business Advantage checking and CashPro treasury services for dedicated commercial relationship coverage." (Muse Glimmer 30B, direct prompt, first choice)
- "Chase and Bank of America are the banks most cited for businesses that need branch access." (Muse Glimmer 30B, comparative prompt, first choice)
- "Go with JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America as your primary bank." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, direct prompt, first choice)

## What the models said about Relay

- "51% of negatives related to account closures — the highest closure complaint ratio of any provider studied" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Elevated issues (13.3 negatives/month), 51% involving closures/freezes—tops the list for this problem." (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "Relay | 13.3 negative reviews/month | Account closures (51% of complaints)" (Kimi K2, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "For most companies with limited budgets, Mercury or Relay are excellent choices" (Kimi K2, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Mercury and Relay are standout choices for businesses with limited budgets" (Mistral Small, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Relay has features that benefit midsize businesses and fast-growing startups, with no monthly fees and strong expense management tools." (Claude Haiku 4.5, direct prompt, alternative)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.