Merrill Lynch will shed around 1,900 jobs following its merger with Bank of America (BoA), according to reports.

Staff at the bank were reportedly told to reapply for their jobs and that the intention is to downsize the bank's combined workforce by 30 per cent.

The news follow an announcement by Merrill Lynch in October last year, when the firm said it would let thousands of employees go, with IT, operations and corporate functions being the most affected areas.

It is understood that the banking giant will complete the staff reduction by March, which would represent the biggest redundancy move by a single bank since the Lehman Brothers collapse last year.

In December, BoA made its top e-commerce executive redundant as part of a 20-strong top management layer asked to leave.