Bank of America to cut 650 jobs, sell a brokerage

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) said on Tuesday it would eliminate 650 corporate and investment banking jobs and sell its prime brokerage unit, as the second-largest U.S. bank retrenches in the face of difficult credit market conditions.

The cuts affect about 12 percent of capital markets and investment banking workers, and follow a review announced in October, when Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said, "I've had all of the fun I can stand in investment banking."

The cuts are in addition to about 500 cuts made late last year as part of an overall reduction of 3,000 jobs companywide.

Bank of America will trim operations in structured products such as mortgage and asset-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. It also plans to cut some non-U.S. businesses while retaining a focus on debt, cash management, and trading of rates and foreign exchange.

Prime brokers typically provide trading, lending, cash management and other services to hedge funds. The job cuts do not affect Bank of America's prime brokerage.

"I see it as a reaction to the realities of today and as far as we can see in the future," Lewis said in a press briefing with reporters at the bank's New York offices.

"For some period of time, we're going to be in a more simple world," he said. "Would you want the company to be a monolith and just not react to market conditions, or would you rather have a company nimble enough to see things would be different?"

COMMITTED TO NEW YORK

Lewis vowed cuts after poor trading results pushed third-quarter profit down 93 percent in corporate and investment banking, and 32 percent overall.

Last month, Lewis projected "quite disappointing" fourth-quarter results, slated for release January 22. Analysts on average expect profits to fall more than 80 percent.

Bank of America did not specify where or in what lines of business the cuts would appear. The bank is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, but houses much of its investment bank in New York. It said the cuts would not affect its plans to occupy a new tower it is building near Times Square in New York.

Brian Moynihan, head of the corporate and investment bank, said in the briefing the bank is selling the prime brokerage because the "return attributes ... are not so strong."

Bank of America employs about 220,000 people overall, including at the former LaSalle Bank Corp, which it acquired in October for $21 billion from ABN AMRO Holding NV AAH.AS.

On Friday, Bank of America agreed to buy struggling Countrywide Financial Corp CFC.N, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, for $4 billion.

CITIGROUP

The changes mark a retreat from earlier in the decade, when Bank of America spent $675 million to expand its corporate and investment bank.

Lewis said the bank expects market activity to settle at 2005 levels, before a frothy housing market led to the creation of more complex securities for which there is now no demand.

Earlier on Tuesday, Citigroup Inc (C.N) announced a $17.4 billion write-down tied to subprime-related CDOs, a large factor in the bank's record $9.83 billion fourth-quarter loss.

"Obviously those areas are under complete stress, so we are downsizing that relatively dramatically," Moynihan said. "Part of what we do is to choose our spots."

Moynihan replaced Gene Taylor in October at the helm of the corporate and investment bank.

Lewis admitted that his bank, and most of the industry, had misjudged the risks associated with complex securities.

"Correlations broke down that had never broken down before," he said. Referring to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), which late last year made a winning bet that market turmoil was coming, he said, "Nobody that competed in the business escaped it, maybe other than Goldman, which made a big bet and won."

Lewis also said his "all the fun" comment created a misimpression about his attitude toward investment banking.

"I wish I had said it differently," he said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Leslie Gevirtz)