British bank Barclays PLC on Thursday raised the minimum hourly wage for its U.S. employees to $20.50 from $17, months after a similar move by rival Bank of America Corp.

The new rate will vary by location based on the cost of living and benefit more than 900 employees, the majority of whom support Barclays US Consumer Bank.

Bank of America had in October raised its minimum wage for U.S. workers to $21 an hour as part of a promise to increase the pay to $25 an hour by 2025.

The move followed pledges from a clutch of firms to pay employees more after a year of pandemic risks and government subsidies, which fueled conversations on whether companies pay their workers enough.

(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)