Merill Lynch To Shed IT Jobs

Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch will result in thousands of job losses, Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain announced. Most of the job cuts will come from IT as well as operations and finance across both banks, Thain said in an interview with Bloomberg. "We haven't mapped it out in terms of actual number of people, but we are committed to saving $7 billion across the combined platforms, and that will be a challenge," Thain said. "Between our two companies, it will be clearly thousands of jobs." Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch in a $50 billion deal expected to close in the first quarter, pending shareholder approval. With the purchase, BofA will become the largest financial services company in the world. Manhattans Merrill Lynch has one of the largest IT budgets of all investment banks, having spent $546 million in the last quarter on ongoing technology investments and system development initiatives. The firm has already cut more than 5,000 jobs in the past 18 months, reducing headcount to about 60,000. In its quarterly statement released 16 October, Merrill Lynch said it has spent $39 million on restructuring charges, mainly related to severance costs for technology workers.

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