Reports: Bank of America, Atlanta's third-largest bank considers huge job cuts

NEW YORK — Bank of America is considering cutting at least 10 percent of its work force as part of a massive restructuring, according to published reports.

The Wall Street Joual said that officials at the Charlotte, N.C. bank have discussed cutting 40,000 employees, or 14 percent of its 288,000 total staff. Bloomberg put the job cuts at about 10 percent. They each cited people that were not identified by name.

The potential impact on metro Atlanta and the state isn't clear. Bank of America is the third-largest bank in the metro area with $17.5 billion in deposits. It also has the third-largest network of branches, with 154 locations in metro Atlanta.

A message left for comment with a Bank of America spokesman was not immediately retued.

Bank of America Corp. has already cut at least 6,000 jobs this year as part of its reorganization under CEO Brian Moynihan, who has been in the top spot since last year. Moynihan earlier this week unveiled a shake-up in the bank's management ranks, announcing that two key officers will leave and the promotion of two others to share the chief operating officer role.

The bank, still struggling under the weight of toxic mortgage loans, says the moves are part of "delayering and simplifying" operations. It has more employees than most of its major competitors, and top executives have stressed the need to eliminate redundancies resulting from past acquisitions.

The Joual said that most of the job cuts are expected to be made on its consumer side. It got rid of 63 unprofitable branches between April and June and said it plans to close 750 of its nearly 6,000 locations in the next several years.

Bank of America Corp. started a cost cutting program called New BAC in the spring. Moynihan said Tuesday that the second phase of New BAC will begin next month and run through March.

Its shares slipped 5 cents to $7.15 in premarket trading Friday.