Bank of America trimming costs and employees

Bank of America Corp. will cut $5 billion in annual costs by the end of 2013 and get rid of 30,000 jobs from its consumer-oriented businesses as part of a trimming process at the bank dubbed “Project New BAC.” About 20 percent of the cuts will be completed in 2012 with the rest being completed by the end of 2013. BofA Chief Executive Brian Moynihan spoke at the Barclays Capital financial conference in New York and maintained its promise to trim excess expenses and businesses to reform the bank’s assets and recover from its mistakes.

Moynihan said on Monday that the planning for the first phase of Project New BAC has finished and the bank will take $5 billion, or about 18 percent, in annual expenses out of $27 billion in consumer and small banking expenses, card costs, global technology and other areas. The job cuts will be part of the first phase of the project targeting consumer lines and business.

According to the Wall Street Journal: “A following phase of the project will seek to reduce part of the bank's $28 billion in expenses on commercial banking, wealth management, corporate banking and investment banking. The bank didn't specify a target or job cuts for those lines of business, but said the cuts would be smaller.”

Bank of America also wants to put behind other costs like mortgage and litigation costs apart from normal business expenditures. These costs make for about $18 billion of the bank’s total $73 billion.