Bank of America to slash up to 35,000 jobs over next three years

Bank of America Corp. (BoA) said Thursday it will eliminate between 30,000 and 35,000 jobs over the next three years as it absorbs the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. and copes with a faltering economy. In a statement the bank said the economy was "affecting the level of business activity" at the bank.

The BoA statement also said it had not completed its analysis and expects to arrive at a final number only in early 2009.

A cut of up to 35,000 jobs would represent a slash of up to 10.5 per cent of the combined BoA/Merrill work force. The statement said that reductions will come from both companies and will affect all lines of business and staff units.

It also said that it would allow as many reductions as possible through attrition and provide severance and other benefits to employees who lose their jobs and cannot be offered other positions within the bank.

"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.

The Merrill deal, initially valued at $50 billion, received shareholder approval last week.

BoA executives have said they would seek to cut $7 billion in annual expenses, which would be about 10 per cent of the combined expenses of both the banks and eliminate overlapping back office and support jobs between the two companies.

Charlotte, NC-based BoA has 247,024 employees, while New York-based Merrill has 60,900 full-time employees.