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"It's been coming.Bank of America has now entered Phase II of Project New BAC - an attempt to caputure some $5bn in cost-savings by the end of 2014. And The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that, according to its sources, around 2,000 staff in investment banking, non-US wealth management and commerical banking are likely to lose their jobs. And the rub ? The newspaper says that 'the (forthcoming job) reductions are significant because of whom they target: the high-earning employees whose efforts helped Merrill Lynch account for the bulk of Bank of America's profit since the financial crisis'. In the meantime, Reuters reports that Bank of America directors have rejected allegations by unhappy shareholders that their proposed $20m settlement of litigation over the purchase of Merrill Lynch was made 'on the cheap' and was the product of collusion. The directors said the shareholders had waited an 'inexcusably' long three years to get involved in the case and called their $5bn damages claim 'outrageous'. Finally, the news agency says that an activist group, 99%,&amp;nbsp;is urging&amp;nbsp;the bank&amp;nbsp;to allow all shareholders to enter next week's annual meeting, after Wells Fargo excluded attendees who disagreed with the firm's business practices. &amp;nbsp; image: &amp;copy; Lisamarie BabikAnd the Best Place to Work in the global financial markets 2015 is..."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2012/05/01/2000-jobs-said-to-go-as-top-firm-starts-next-phase-of-cost-cutti/>