Bank of America starts wave of job cuts

Further job cuts are feared after bank merger

Bank of America has made its top e-commerce executive redundant as part of a 20-strong management layer asked to leave ahead of the integration with newly-acquired Merrill Lynch.

Lance Drummond was the company's main executive for e-commerce and ATM, with responsibility for the bank's web site. Drummond joined the group in November 2002 as senior vice president and supply chain management executive, and also served as senior vice president and transaction services executive.

Drummond's departure is part of the first wave of 35,000 lay-offs expected to take place at the US financial services giant. Other senior executives leaving the firm include Helga Houston, compliance and risk management executive, and Chris Swecker, who was poached from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2006 to handle the bank's corporate security.

It is understood that the management of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch are meeting this week to discuss further cuts.

Merrill Lynch said in October that thousands of the company's 60,000 employees will lose their jobs as part of the merger, and that IT, operations and corporate functions will be the hardest hit.