Bank of America plans to trim 40,000 jobs

LOS ANGELES – Bank of America Corp. is preparing to slash 40,000 or more jobs nationwide, a dramatic retrenchment that reflects the deepening woes of the country’s largest bank and the magnitude of the U.S. economic slowdown.

The layoffs will come mainly from the Bank of America’s sprawling consumer-banking operations, which will take a heavy toll on branches, loan centers and other offices throughout California, where Bank of America has 45,000 employees, about 1 in 6 of its nearly 300,000-person workforce. The company is expected to roll out the job cuts over the next several years and also is in the process of closing 10 percent of its branches nationwide.

The details of the cutbacks were not officially announced, but the information was disclosed by three Bank of America executives who have been briefed on the plan but were not authorized to speak publicly. Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s beleaguered chief executive, is expected to unveil details at an investor conference Monday in New York.

Executives met at the bank’s Charlotte, N.C., headquarters Thursday and Friday to finalize the plan, which has been under discussion for months. Moynihan is grappling with how to wring more profit from the bank’s core customer base, which includes about 58 million consumer and small-business accounts.