By Dan Freed
(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (N:BAC) has begun laying off employees in its operations and technology division, part of the second-largest U.S. bank's plan to cut costs.
On Wednesday the bank cut jobs across that division, many of which came from its Charlotte, N.C., headquarters, a spokesman said. He would not specify the number of jobs lost.
The cuts come as Bank of America is aiming to cut costs to boost financial targets Chief Executive Brian Moynihan has set.
Although Bank of America is also hiring, the employees that it is trying to reduce cost more than those who are joining, Moynihan said at a conference last month. The bank has also been cutting costs by shuttering data centers and moving information to less costly systems run by technology firms.
For any large bank, technology and operations costs run high. Old systems are reliable but dated, while new ones are expensive to develop.
Separately, at a conference on Wednesday, Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag said the global banking and markets unit has roughly 1,300 applications that cost about $1.3 billion to maintain and run. As the bank sorts through those platforms and decides which to eliminate, some jobs will be lost, said spokesman Dan Frahm.
The Charlotte Observer first reported layoffs at Bank of America's headquarters.