Bank of America To Cut At Least 40,000 Jobs

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, covering a demonstration organized by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition on May 29, 2009 in downtown Detroit. (Photo: Alan Pollock), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Bank Of America To Cut At Least 40,000 Jobs

September 10, 2011

The Bank of America Corporation officials is going to eliminate at least 40,000 positions during the first wave of restructuring, which Chief Executive Brian Moynihan expected to discuss Monday. According to reports, the figures are yet to change awaiting the discussion. It is not yet final and could change after deliberations from the meeting are met. But it is going to be a very dramatic retrenchment that reflects the deepening woes of the country’s largest bank and the magnitude of the U.S. economic slowdown.

Restructuring Of Bank Of America

The Bank of America restructuring is going to reduce the bank’s work force. In fact, Mr. Moynihan may not discuss a job-cut number during next week’s presentation at the Barclays Capital 2011 Global Financial Services Conference in New York. But it will surely boil down to slash 40,000 or more jobs nationwide, one source said. The layoffs will come mainly from the Bank of America’s sprawling consumer-banking operations.
As a result, this will take a heavy toll on branches, loan centers and other offices throughout California.

The Bank Of America

The Bank of America has 45,000 employees in the state of California, about 1 in 6 of its nearly 300,000-person workforce. The highest concentration of Bank of America branches in United States with 956 throughout the state is in the state of California. The number is expected to roll out the job cuts over the next several years. The company, which for years was based in San Francisco and maintains its huge mortgage unit in Calabasas is also in the process of closing 10% of its branches nationwide. Despite of the fact that it has been losing ground in recent years to rivals like Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America continues to operate.

Layoffs Contribute To U.S. Rising Unemployment

The layoffs are going to make a big hit for unemployment in California. Its battered economy had nearly gone up to 12% unemployment rate. From tellers to middle managers, laid-off Bank of America employees are likely to have a tough time finding new jobs. Chapman University Economist Esmael Adibi said, “We don’t need to lose any jobs in this environment, whether in financial services or anywhere else”. At least one analyst said that cutbacks could weigh heavily on Bank of America’s millions of Southern California customers, who would have to deal with fewer branches and longer lines for tellers. They’re talking about either closing branches or reducing the head count in the branches.

Details Of Cutbacks Expected On Monday

The details of the cutbacks were not officially announced. Moynihan said decisions will be finalized on Monday at a Conference. But the information was disclosed by three executives of the Bank of America who have been briefed on the plan but were not authorized to speak publicly. Moynihan is grappling with how to wring more profit from the bank’s core customer base, which includes about 58 million consumer and small-business accounts.

In this article you learned that The Bank of America Corporation officials is going to eliminate at least 40,000 positions during the first wave of restructuring, which Chief Executive Brian Moynihan expected to discuss Monday. Bank of America’s retrenchment is also being driven by the slack U.S. economy and darkening outlook for the banking industry.

Intensifying worries about its prospects have cut Bank of America’s stock price by more than half since mid-January, a far larger hit than its peers have suffered.