Digital Banking Push May Bring 8K BoA Layoffs

The continued movement by Bank of America toward digital banking could have the impact of lopping off as many as 8,000 jobs from the banking consumer unit, Financial Times reported.

The digitization has meant that there is not as much demand for back-office people or staff functioning as bank tellers; conversely, the firm plans to add more staff as mortgage loan officers and other revenue-generating positions.

Branch visits by customers have been declining, so that, in part, has helped determine where the axe may fall.

The consumer division has seen its roster decline by about 40,000 people across the past seven years. The total staffing within that division now stands at more than 68,000.

Online usage and headcount have been on the rise, and users have surpassed 20 million, the company stated.

Looking across key metrics, net income in the latest quarter was up 20 percent from a year ago. The stock trades for about 60 percent of book value, which means that investors may start to show interest in relatively beaten-up tech numbers.