The hiring and firing of junior and mid-ranking people at BofA Merrill Lynch

&ABoA Merrill Lynch is removing up to 400 employees from its investment banking division.

The cuts are already said to have started, with associates and VPs allegedly being disproportionately affected, although everyone we spoke to at BAML in London claimed to be totally oblivious to redundancies in their team.

As BAML apparently scythes employees, it's worth remembering that it's also been doing quite a lot of recruiting in 2010. Notably, it's:

· Hired 200 front office markets people in EMEA this year.

· Hired 400 people in total in investment banking and markets in EMEA this year.

· Hired 800 people in across all global banking and markets in 2010.

· Hired numerous senior IBD rainmakers on big guarantees.

· Hired numerous FICC professionals, also on allegedly big guarantees.

It does not have much to show for its efforts.

According to analysts at Nomura, BAML's 'clean' Q2 revenues were down 29% year-on-year in equities, 59% in FICC, and (a mere) 6% in IBD. After a spurt of junior hiring this year, the bank is rumoured to have paid its M analysts particularly badly.

Are the 400 redundancies merely an instance of over-zealous hiring followed by penitent firing?

We would suggest yes. One senior fixed income headhunter suggests no.

"They are only cutting 3% of their global staff, which is perfectly normal for the time of year. There are lots of hires to be made in 2011 and to accommodate budgets and next year's headcount, it's simply a question of weeding out poor performers," he reflects.