Bank of America Laying Off Elite Bankers

Bank of America plans to lay off 2,000 of its highest paid employees in its investment banking, commercial banking, and non-US wealth management units, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. Those operations just happen to be the ones that expanded with BofA's acquisition of Merrill Lynch, which has been the bank's top profit center since the financial crisis. The move is part of CEO Brian Moynihan's aggressive plan to cut costs.

The cuts will be on top of the 30,000 layoffs Bank of America announced last fall. Odds are this isn't the last high-level blood-letting we'll see, either; a report yesterday predicted that Wall Street will be laying off a lot of senior bankers in the near future. (More Bank of America stories.)