Bank of America to lose 1,900 jobs in the City

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Bank of America to lose 1,900 jobs in the City

Following the completion of the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger at the start of the year up to 1,900 jobs in the City are to be shed, according to the Times.

The firm is looking to reduce its London-based workforce by 30%, and some staff members have already been asked to reapply for their jobs.

The majority of the job losses are expected to have occurred by the end of March, and some have already been shed.

Nor is London alone afflicted by job cuts, with 11-13% of Bank of America’s worldwide staff (up to 35,000 people) facing losing theirs in the next few years.

The large scale cuts are being made in an effort to save approximately $7bn (£4.8bn) per annum, with investment banking being particularly hard hit.

Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch at the start of this year, with Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, describing the firm as being uniquely positioned to win market share across the globe.

The bank then had $2 trillion in client assets for the wealth management arm alone.

However, the Bank of America did make known at the time of the merger that it intended to make some $7bn of pre-tax expense savings to be fully realised by 2012.