Bank of America redeploys 40 Asia bankers as China dealmaking stalls

HONG KONG  – Bank of America Corp has told around 40 bankers in Asia to look for new roles within the organization, a person familiar with the matter said, as it moves to control costs globally and cut back amid slowing Chinese dealmaking.

The bank on Wednesday notified the staff in Asia Pacific markets that they would have to look for new jobs in other divisions or geographies within the company, the person said.

Those who can’t find another role internally within a few months would face redundancy, according to the person, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

Most of the affected bankers work in junior roles and in Chinese equities, while a few are employees in banking and markets divisions.

Stalled Chinese dealmaking and sluggish prospects have prompted the bank, which had around 217,000 employees worldwide at the end of March, to look to cut back in this area, while it is also aiming to keep headcount down globally, the person said.

A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.

Bloomberg first reported the move on Thursday.

Bank of America expects its global headcount to shrink to 213,000 by the end of June, an executive said during first quarter earnings.

Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said during a forum in April that the bank was “not laying people off” and it would redeploy staff that had to move roles.

The program in the Asia-Pacific follows a similar one that is seeing fewer than 200 wealth management and lending employees moved to product specialist positions within the company’s global operations organization.

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