LaSalle acquisition costs 4,000 jobs at Bank of America

Mumbai: Bank of America Corp, the second-largest US bank, will lay off about 2,500 workers in Illinois and 1,500 in Michigan over the next two years in connection with its $21 billion purchase of LaSalle Bank Corp from Dutch bank ABN Amro Holding NV.

Bank of America said the cuts are intended to save the bank about $800 million by 2009. Post cuts, the bank will employ about 8,000 people in Illinois and 2,500 in Michigan.
As of end-June the bank had 195,675 employees.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America won approval from the US Federal Reserve to buy LaSalle On September 14. The transaction is expected to close in early October.

LaSalle has about $160 billion of assets, 411 branches, 1,500 automated teller machines and 1.4 million customers. LaSalle will add about $1.7 trillion of assets to Bank of America.