Bank of America considers huge job cuts

Bank of America is considering cutting at least 10% of its work force as part of a massive restructuring, according to published reports. The Wall Street Journal says officials at the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank have discussed cutting 40,000 employees, or 14%, of its 288,000 total staff. Bloomberg put the job cuts at about 10%. They each cited people that were not identified by name. A spokesman for Bank of America wasn’t immediately available to comment to The Associated Press before business hours today. Bank of America has already cut at least 6,000 jobs this year as part of its reorganization under CEO Brian Moynihan, who has been in the top spot since last year. Moynihan earlier this week unveiled a shake-up in the bank’s management ranks, announcing that two key officers will leave and two others are to be promoted to share the chief operating officer role. The bank, still struggling under the weight of toxic mortgage loans, says the moves are part of “delayering and simplifying” operations. It has more employees than most of its major competitors, and top executives have stressed the need to eliminate redundancies resulting from past acquisitions. The Journal says most of the job cuts are expected to be made on its consumer side. It got rid of 63 unprofitable branches between April and June and says it plans to close 750 of its nearly 6,000 locations in the next several years.