Bank of America cuts team in Dubai by 40%

Bank of America, the second-biggest US lender by deposits, cut part of its top-ranked Merrill Lynch & Co equities division in Europe and reduced its sales and trading team in Dubai by 40 percent, people with knowledge the situation said. The cuts in Europe yesterday affected specialist sales and generalist sales, said two people, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. They didn’t provide a number of positions affected. In Dubai, the bank reduced the group to six from 10, according to another person. Chief executive officer Brian T. Moynihan plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs at the North Carolina-based lender over the next few years to reduce costs by $5bn annually by the end of 2013. Wall Street firms including Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse Group AG have reduced staff as revenue from trading stocks and bonds has declined. Spokesmen for Bank of America in London weren’t immediately available to comment. The company is one of a number of global lenders to have trimmed back their workforces in Dubai in recent months. International lenders Deutsche Bank and Credit Agricole are understood to have withdrawn employees from Dubai as deals dry up, revenue falls and lenders curb costs. HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, said last month it would stop offering brokerage services to retail investors in the United Arab Emirates.