By Lananh Nguyen

NEW YORK Bank of America will boost its minimum hourly wage to $23 in October as it heads toward a goal of raising hourly pay to $25 by 2025, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

The pay bump translates to a minimum salary of almost $48,000 a year for full-time employees, according to the second largest U.S. lender.

BofA has increased pay several times in recent years, starting with a move to $15 an hour in 2017.

"Providing a competitive minimum rate of pay is foundational," Sheri Bronstein, the bank's chief human resources officer said in the statement.

(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen; editing by Miral Fahmy)