Swiss private bank Julius Baer will cut up to around 1,000 jobs as it seeks to rein in costs following its purchase of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's international wealth management business.Baer said it planned a "significant reduction" of Bank of America positions not required after the merger as well as cuts to middle and back office functions of the melded group, reducing the combined staff of about 5,700 by 15-18 percent.A Julius Baer spokesman said the job cuts would largely hit the Bank of America unit, which has 2,100 staff now, and they would be spread geographically and take place gradually after the deal closes, currently expected for the first quarter of 2013.Baer said in August it was acquiring Merrill Lynch's wealth management business outside of the United States and Japan to expand in fast-growing emerging markets. It is presenting details of the deal to analysts and investors in London later on Tuesday.
Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company. Shares of BAC remained unchanged at $9.28. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $4.92 and as high as $10.10. On average, 133110000 shares of BAC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
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