BoA to cut 30,000 jobs

Bank of America says it will cut about 30,000 jobs over the next few years in a bid to save US$5 billion per year.

The troubled bank says it expects many of the cuts will come through attrition and eliminating unfilled positions.

The company says the number of job cuts is not fixed, but that it expects they will total 30,000.

The bank's stock has lost 47 per cent this year, largely over problems related to poorly written mortgages it acquired with its 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp.

The job cuts are part of the first phase of a cost-cutting programme the bank calls 'Project New BAC'. It hopes to achieve the US$5 billion in annual cost savings by 2014.