BofA Considering Up to 40,000 Layoffs: Report

Bank of America executives are mulling a restructuring plan that would lop off as many as 40,000 jobs in its first phase, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the discussions.

While the total number of job cuts are not final and could change, the report said the massive restructuring program would take several years to complete and would exceed the bank’s 2008 overhaul in which between 30,000 and 35,000 employees were pink-slipped over a three-year span.

Earlier this week, top executives Sallie Krawcheck, head of the bank’s investment and wealth management units, and Joe Price, president of global consumer and small business banking, were jettisoned and replaced by now co-chief operating officers David Darnell and Tom Montag.

Last month, CEO Brian Moynihan broke the news to employees that roughly 3,500 of their colleagues would be laid off from units through the nation’s largest bank by assets. BofA officials said it had already trimmed more than 2,500 staffers during the first half of the year.

“I know it is tough to have to manage through reductions, Moynihan wrote in a memo to the bank’s senior leadership. “But we owe it to our customers and our shareholders to remain competitive, efficient and manage our expenses carefully.”

As tough as those layoffs may have been, they pale in comparison to the 40,000-job bloodbath reportedly being discussed this week.