Bank of America cuts could affect Rhode Island banking jobs

Posted on August 21, 2011

After Bank of America, the giant of banking, said last week that it is cutting thousands of jobs, many wondered if the cuts would affect Rhode Island banking jobs.

The bank plans on cutting almost 10,000 jobs within the next year on top of the 3,500 cuts it just announced.

But a spokesperson for the company would not say where the layoffs would occur.

There are more than 280,000 employees working for the company around the world and that the cuts could happen anywhere.

In Rhode Island, BoA has about 3,500 employees.

The cuts are apart of a larger plan to boost profits and engage in a recovery.

The initial wave of layoffs is expected to be completed by the end of next month.

The bank has hemorrhaged $22 billion from its consumer mortgage division over the last year.

Dr. Edward Mazze, Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, wrote to GoLocalProv.com: “For Rhode Island, I suspect they have been evaluating each branch and will eliminate branches in geographic areas in the state in which their business is not going anywhere because of changing demographics, e.g. population flows, and the poor state of the Rhode Island economy.”

Bank of America has branches all over the U.S. The cuts could also affect finance jobs in Long Island as well.