Bank of America could be making London bankers redundant this week

Following a disappointing performance in 2018, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is said to be lining up layoffs in its investment bank in London.

Three independent sources said BAML is planning cuts to its London corporate and investment bank later this week. The cuts coud be substantial, with a focus on industry coverage and product teams, although there are also suggestions that what's coming will be no more than standard year-end trimming.

Bank of America declined to comment on the alleged plans. 

Revenues at BofA's M&A business declined 26% last year compared to 2017, while those at Citi, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley increased by 16%, 17% and 17%, respectively.

BAML's investment banking operation is in a state of flux following the recent departures of Christian Meissner and Diego De Giorgi, its former head of the corporate and investment bank and the London-based global head of investment banking, respectively. As we reported earlier this month, the new heads of investment banking, Jack MacDonald and Thomas Sheehan, are both based in the U.S. , prompting some concerns that the European business could be neglected as BofA focuses on rebuilding its Americas market share.

Bank of America made numerous senior M&A hires in Europe last year, including Severin Brisnay who joined in May from UBS as head of M&A for EMEA, and Matt Cannon, who joined from Morgan Stanley in February as head of investment banking for the UK and Ireland. The bank slipped from 4th to 10th in the UK M&A advisor rankings between 2017 and 2018 and from 5th to 7th in Europe. 

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