Bank of America will cut 3,500 jobs this quarter as part of a wider restructuring that could lead to the loss of thousands more jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
The 3,500 jobs to be slashed will come from all sections of America's biggest bank by assets, and are to be eliminated by the end of September, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. Some of the employees to be laid off have already been told, it said.
Earlier this week Bank of America owned MBNA said that it wants to exit the credit card business in the Republic and the UK. Up to 1,000 jobs are thought to be at risk over the future of the MBNA credit card operation in Carrick-on-Shannon in Co Leitrim.
The Carrick-on-Shannon credit card operation provides telephone and online support for customers in the Republic and the UK. A Bank of America spokesman said it had not yet decided whether to sell or wind down the Irish operation, which in 2004 was named the best place to work in Europe.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal said that thousands of additional job cuts in the US could come as part of the major restructuring known as 'Project New BAC', referring to the ticker symbol of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank.
The number of cuts is still under discussion, but one source told the Journal that at least 10,000 jobs, or 3.5% of the bank's work force, could be eliminated. A final decision is expected early next month.
Last week, the bank's chief executive Brian Moynihan said it was in a better position now than during the financial crisis, as he tried to reassure investors worried about the growing number of lawsuits facing the bank. Bank of America shares are down 47% so far this year, the paper said.
'The fundamentals are so much better in our country and in our company and in our industry than they were four years ago,' Moynihan said in a conference call with analysts.
The job cuts will include hundreds of positions in Bank of America's investment banking and trading unit, the Journal reported. Some job eliminations could come through attrition or hiring slowdowns and put in place over a three-year period, it added.
Several large banks have recently announced major staff cuts, with HSBC slashing 30,000 jobs by 2013 and Britain's bailed-out Lloyds bank eliminating 15,000 positions by 2014.
