Many BofA/ML Employees Want to Leave

As we've said, there appear to have been a few issues in Bank of America's sales and trading business recently. Normalized FICC revenues were down 91 percent year-over-year in the third quarter. William Wright at Financial News points out that of the 14 senior managers named in November 2008 to run Bank of America/Merrill Lynch's markets division under Tom Montag, six have left the firm, four have moved internally and only four are still in place.

In the circumstances, it may not seem surprising that people wish to work elsewhere. The Chicago Tribune has spoken to various recruiters in the U.S. who report an influx of resumes from people trying to escape Bank of America.

According to Reuters, competitors say they are getting an influx of calls and e-mails as BofA embarks on a plan to slash 30,000 jobs over the next few years.

Recruiters say BofA employees are scouting jobs in retail, commercial and investment banking.

"It's definitely picking up," Reuters quotes one senior executive at a rival consumer bank as saying, who added that many companies are only hiring selectively.

In the most high-profile departure which we reported in our People Moves last week, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. hired Bank of America strategy executive Mike Lyons to lead its corporate and institutional banking unit. Lyons had advised CEO Brian Moynihan on his plan to sell off nonessential assets.

According to Reuters, John Dunn, director of the banking and financial services practice at recruiting firm Stephen James Associates, said he has had about 20 calls or meetings with Bank of America employees in recent weeks, mostly in investment banking and capital markets operations. Normally, he might have talked to or met only two to four over that period.