NEW YORK (AFP) - Bank of America said it will cut 4,500 jobs, or about 2.5 percent of its total work force, as part of the company's ongoing integration of FleetBoston Financial.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, the biggest US retail bank with 33 million accounts and 5,800 branches, said the cuts will mean 150 million dollars in severance costs from the third quarter through the first quarter of 2005.
"No one really believes they weren't going to have any layoffs," said Chris Marinac, an analyst with FIG Partners in Atlanta. "They have some large cost savings that need to achieved."
The company, under fire in New England for allegedly cutting jobs and closing operations despite promises to the contrary, said the reductions announced Thursday -- mostly from back-office positions -- will not violate any job-retention agreements made as part of the FleetBoston acquisition.
Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis met with city and state officials in Massachusetts in late August to assuage fears that Bank of America would not violate the merger agreement.
The bank said the cuts stem from the combination of consumer-banking, consumer-products and small-business banking units last month. Bank of America announced in October 2003 it would buy FleetBoston for 47 billion dollars.
When the deal closed in March, there was speculation the bank would cut as many as 13,000 jobs.