(Bloomberg News) Bank of America Corp., the lender struggling to contain losses from soured mortgages, will cut employees and assets to make the largest U.S. lender easier to manage, said Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan.
About four dozen of the bank's top executives are meeting at the firm's Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters today and tomorrow to review initiatives in Moynihan's cost-cutting plan, known as Project New BAC. Job cuts may total about 10 percent of the firm's 288,000 employees over the next two to three years, said a person with direct knowledge of the discussions.
"It's time to simplify the organization, streamline the organization and make sure our business processes are relevant when you have a smaller, more focused company," Moynihan said in a Sept. 6 interview. "We just don't need to be the biggest."
Moynihan, 51, has already announced the first major shakeup from his project -- a reorganization of six businesses into two that cater to consumers and corporate or institutional clients. The new lineup promoted Thomas K. Montag and David Darnell to co-chief operating officers and left Sallie Krawcheck and Joseph Price without jobs.
Project New BAC is meant to make Bank of America simpler for investors and clients to understand, as well as easier for Moynihan and his deputies to manage, said another person with direct knowledge of the plan. Moynihan has said he expects "significant" cost savings, which the bank needs as the economy slows and new federal regulations cut revenue.
Stock Slide
Bank of America's stock dropped more than 40 percent this year as investors focused on costs tied to the 2008 takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp. and speculated the lender may issue new shares to bolster capital. Since starting as CEO last year, Moynihan has sold more than $30 billion in assets, and last month raised $5 billion by selling preferred stock and warrants to Berkshire Hathaway Inc., run by billionaire Warren Buffett.
Bank of America leaders had been "fighting a different battle" before, and that was to gain scale, Moynihan said in the interview. His predecessor, Kenneth D. Lewis, spent more than $130 billion assembling a company with leading positions in deposits, credit cards, mortgages, investment and corporate banking and wealth management. The firm had $2.3 trillion in assets as of June 30.
Smaller Size
"What you ended up with was a company that was too complex, had a lot of parts that were inherited," Moynihan said. If the firm shrinks to "a $1.8 trillion balance sheet, we don't care. That's different for this company's culture."