As part of its nationwide job cuts initiative announced at the end of 2008, Bank of America Corporation (BAC) will retrench 50 employees in Bellevue. According to a notice sent out by the Washington Employment Security Department on Friday, BofA will start the retrenchment effective Mar 12, 2010.
The employees of BofA’s home loan and insurance groups will be affected by this lay-off. BofA has four branch locations in Bellevue, but no specific location was mentioned in the notice. BofA is in conversation with the employees who have been identified for lay-off to find an alternative position for them.
At the end of 2008, BofA announced that it would cut 30,000 to 35,000 employees over the next three years as it integrates the brokerage giant Merrill Lynch that was purchased by BofA almost during the height of the financial crisis last year.
Since the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, BofA has had differences of opinion with regulators and lawmakers over Merrill’s 2008 bonus payments issues amid escalating losses.
In an effort to stabilize its executive team after experiencing a slump caused by the recession, BofA’s new CEO Brian Moynihan announced a management shake-up last week, less than two weeks after succeeding former CEO Kenneth Lewis. BofA last made senior management changes in Aug 2009, when the previous CEO Kenneth Lewis announced his intention to retire on Dec 31.
Since the end of 2009, BofA is absolutely free from pay restrictions as it has repaid in full the $45 billion government bailout money. We anticipate continued synergies from the company’s large scale operation and balance sheet restructuring. We are also optimistic about the effectiveness of the new management team.
BofA is scheduled to release its fourth quarter and full year 2009 earnings on Jan 20, 2010. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is a loss of 51 cents per share. Estimates appear to be substantially down compared to the prior-year quarter.
On Friday, the shares of BofA were down by about 3.3%, closing at $16.26 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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