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By Saeed Azhar and Svea Herbst-Bayliss
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Bank of America has eliminated 150 junior banker jobs in its investment bank, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The bank's latest cuts follow similar exercises at rivals JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs and are part of an annual process to cut under-performers. However, deal volumes have also fallen below expectations in the first half of the year.
The second-largest U.S. lender will offer most of the junior bankers, who include associates and analysts, roles outside of investment banking, one of the sources told Reuters.
However, some junior bankers have opted to leave instead, the other source said.
The sources declined to be identified because the information is not public.
The number of job cuts has not been previously reported. Reuters reported on Monday that the bank had eliminated some investment banking roles.
The reduction, an annual exercise, comes weeks after Bank of America let go of staff in its investment banking and global markets divisions globally as part of an annual performance review process, two of the sources said. The cuts represented 1% of the workforce for those businesses and included managing directors, directors and vice presidents, one of the sources said.
More than 10 managing directors were let go in that process, a third source said.
BofA does not break down its staffing in investment banking and global markets. Global banking and global markets accounted for a combined 45% of its net income in the fourth quarter.
Wall Street investment banker Goldman Sachs is reducing its staffing by 3% to 5% in an annual performance review process this spring, Reuters reported on March 4, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Goldman's cuts would equate to more than 1,395 employees from the bank's global workforce of 46,500 at the end of December.
JPMorgan Chase is also carrying out several planned job reductions this year.
Investment banking activity had picked up in recent months, with Wall Street executives cheering the business-friendly tone of President Donald Trump's administration.
But U.S. mergers and acquisition activity in the first two months of 2025 has seen just 1,603 deals signed through Friday, making it the slowest pace by volume since 2009, Dealogic data showed.
"We anticipate head count reductions will accelerate as the beginning of the year has dampened the outlook for full-year investment banking results, specifically within the advisory business," said Chris Connors, principal at consultants Johnson Associates.
"Whether publicly announced or done so informally and at the margins, we expect the large global banks to reduce staffing levels within M&A over the next three to six months."
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Rod Nickel)
