Bank of America plans to shed up to 35,000 jobs over three years
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Bank of America Corp said on Thursday it plans to eliminate 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over three years, reflecting its pending purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co and weaker business activity stemming from the economic recession.
At Bank of America, the cuts will come from both companies and affect all lines of business and staff units, the firm said.
"The reductions are designed to eliminate redundancies created as a result of the merger with Merrill Lynch and to reflect the current recessionary environment," the bank said in a statement. The weak economy "is affecting the level of business activity," it added.
The cuts could affect as much as 11.4 percent of the combined companies' workforce of about 308,000 people, and are intended to help save $7 billion of annual costs.
Bank of America employs about 247,000 people and Merrill about 61,000. The merger values Merrill at about $20.5 billion and is expected to close on Jan. 1, 2009, creating the largest U.S. bank by assets.
Financial companies have announced more than 250,000 job cuts this year, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc, as losses soared from mortgages, credit cards and securities write downs.
Bank of America's reductions represent one of the largest rounds of layoffs in the history of the financial-services industry. Citigroup Inc said last month that it plans to cut about 50,000 staff.