STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news begins with more job cuts at Bank of America.
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INSKEEP: The Wall Street Journal reports that the nation's second-largest bank is planning about 2,000 layoffs at its investment banking, commercial banking and wealth management units. These cuts are notable because they include high-earning employees in operations that account for most of Bank of America's profits since the financial crisis.
The new cuts are in addition to the 30,000 layoffs in the bank's consumer banking divisions that were announced last year. And these cuts are described as part of the CEO's effort to rein costs at a time of lackluster growth. In the last two years, Bank of America's personnel expenses rose 17 percent while revenue dropped by 22 percent. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
