Friday's Headlines: Bank of America to ax 3,500 job before October

Bank of America will lay off 3,500 employees before October, and could fire thousands more later on as it completes a wider restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The move comes as Bank of America deals with the consequences of $1 trillion of problem-loans on its books and increasing economic woes, Reuters adds.

"The 3,500 positions are spread across the nation's largest bank by assets, including investment banking and trading, and the cuts are expected to be completed by the end of September. Some employees already have been notified," the Journal writes. "Thousands of additional reductions are expected as part of an aggressive overhaul known as 'Project New BAC,' after the Charlotte, N.C., bank's ticker symbol," the newspaper adds. According to Reuters, Bank of America employed approximately 280,000 at the beginning of the year.

Other Headlines:

Jobs on Wall Street in July sink to lowest level since November, down 0.2% from June. [MarketWatch]

European bank stocks plunge echoes sell-offs at height of financial crisis, analysts say. [Wall Street Journal]

Deutsche CEO Joseph Ackerman admits that having two CEO as successors will be challenging but says it will work. [Reuters]

Global financial firms say new EU rules may force them to make riskier market bets. [New York Times]

AIG sells Taiwan life insurer, uses proceeds to pay back $2.15 billion in government bailout funds. [Reuters]

Investigation into crisis-era ratings by S&P and others widens, as DOJ gets involved. [Wall Street Journal]

Fake hedge fund scammer may get longer prison sentence than federal rules recommend. [Hedge Fund Net]

Invesco Mortgage Capital raises $367.4 million from stock sale, plans to buy real estate assets and possibly repay debt. [BizJournals]

AIG, banks try to block class-action lawsuit over AIG's 2008 credit-crisis debacle. [Reuters]

FINRA issues new rules to clarify how brokerage firms may use social media websites. [Investment News]

New York Federal Reserve plans to look deeper into potential problems at US units of European banks. [MarketWatch]