At Bank of America, They Won’t Be Cutting Lawyers

A little tongue in cheek, perhaps, but news came on Thursday afternoon that Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is likely to cut 7,500 staff from Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) in the wake of its acquisition of the troubled Calabasas, Calif.-based lender. “Based on current estimates, Bank of America anticipates about 7,500 positions will be eliminated as part of combining the two companies,” the North Carolina-based bank said in a press statement Thursday. “The reductions will take place throughout the country.” BofA has said it expects to complete the acquisition by July 1. While speculation has been rampant for months regarding the future of Countrywide’s substantial wholesale mortgage lending platform, BofA said that “final decisions on all specific associate groups and locations have not been made.” Job cuts will be nationwide and the company will begin notifying affected employees during the third quarter, it said. Something tells us that the cuts won’t be in BofA’s legal staff — not with the litany of legal liabilities that Countrywide will bring with it once the deal is closed. All affected employees will receive some form of severance, the company said. For more information, visit http://www.bankofamerica.com. Disclosure: The author was long CFC and held no positions in other publicly-traded firms mentioned when this story was originally published. HW reporters and writers follow a strict disclosure policy, the first in the mortgage trade.