Bank of America and HSBC to cut more jobs

As a result of poor earning, Bank of America announced yesterday it has eliminated more than 2,600 jobs in the second quarter.  The cuts made in the past three months is the largest quarter-to-quarter drop in a year. After the cuts, the bank has 210,516 employees, down by more than 6,100 from a year ago, The Charlotte Observer reports.

CEO  Brian Moynihan has cut  tens of thousands of positions or about 25% of its jobs since he took up the tole in 2010.   The moves were made to lower expenses at a time when banks are struggling to boost revenues because of low low interest rates.

The bank also unveiled plans to  another $5 billion in annual cost cuts by 2018 as part of its strategy to deal with shrinking earnings.

“We’re down 2,600 people quarter over quarter,”  Moynihan told the Wall Street Journal.  “It’s a constant reduction in personnel through hard work and automation.”

The number of Bank of America branches has dropped from about 6,000 to 4,700 during Moynihan's tenure. Mobile-banking technology has taken over some of the teller jobs.

A new round of cuts is coming to HSBC, according to the New York Post.

Sources told New York based media that the bank which has been struggling to cut costs, is preparing to cut about 15 bond traders across New York, Europe, and Asia.

Under CEO Stuart Gulliver, the bank has been in cost-cutting mode for two years, and is trying to trim $5 billion by the end of 2017.

Earlier this year, the bank announced a global pay and hiring freeze, before Gulliver overturned the decision on pay freeze less than two later due to strong opposition from employees.

Banks everywhere have been axing jobs, Wells Fargo shed 700 positions in the second quarter. J.P. Morgan announced it plans to cut 5,000 jobs in May.  Last Monday, Goldman Sachs axed another 55 employees in New York, according to a filing by the bank with New York's Department of Labor.

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