'BofA-Merrill may axe 1,900 jobs in UK'

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London: Financial services major Bank of America, which acquired Merrill Lynch recently, is considering to slash about 1,900 jobs from the combined workforce in the UK, says a media report.

"Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, its new owner, are preparing to cut about 1,900 staff in London, one of the biggest single staff reductions in the history of the city," 'The Times' said.

The 95-year old financial entity Merrill Lynch told its staff that management is looking to cut 30 per cent of the combined workforce in the capital and even some were asked to reapply for their jobs last week, the report said.

"The cuts have already begun in some departments, with job losses in the commodities trading department in the past few days, but the major reductions are still to come, with most of the cuts due to be completed by March," it added.

Last month, BoA had announced a 11-13 per cent cut in the combined workforce to 30,000-35,000 employees worldwide over a three year-period, in a move to achieve annual cost savings of seven billion dollar.

"However, investment banking is expected to bear a disproportionate and early share of the job losses as Merrill digs in for a lean period of poor trading volumes and low bid activity and pulls back from some areas such as proprietary trading and structured credit," the report published online said.

Besides, Merrill Lynch employs 4,500 people, while BoA has about 1,700 in London.