Bank of America, based in North Carolina, announced the abrupt retirement of its top investment executive and a series of moves that could eliminate 3,000 jobs.

The bank said the job cuts would come largely from the company’s global corporate and investment bank, which has about 20,000 employees. The unit includes commercial banking and treasury services, capital markets and investment banking.

The biggest surprise, however, came in the sudden decision to retire by R. Eugene Taylor, a Bank of America vice chairman who led the investment-banking unit since 2005 and is a longtime ally and close friend of Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, The Wall Street Journal said.

Taylor’s main task was to improve communication and referrals between the bank’s commercial and investment operations but the unit continued to struggle.

The top-to-bottom shakeup of the investment bank came less than a week after Bank of America reported $1.45 billion in third-quarter trading losses that caused its overall profit to tumble 32 percent.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 26 October 2007   

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