Bank of America to cut 10,000 investment banking jobs

And have a Merry Christmas! From CNBC:

Bank of America can be expected to cut at least 10,000 investment banking jobs as it moves to absorb Merrill Lynch, sources have told CNBC.

The layoffs will start before the end of the year and possibly as soon as this week.

The move comes amid very tough times for the banking sector. With the declining market and tight credit picture, profits are under intense pressure. And traditional work in the initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions business has dried up.

With the IPO and mergers business drying up, I guess BofA doesn't need all the investment bankers that it is getting from its merger with Merrill Lynch. The merger of Merrill into BofA will result in a combined 260,000 employees, with around 50,000 in the investment banking operations. The majority of the 10,000 investment banking layoffs will come from Merrill Lynch's side of the investment banking business. That should make the Merrill Lynch investment banking employees especially happy with their merger into BofA, knowing that they will be out of a job before Christmas.

Update: I guess BofA wants to cut up to 30,000 jobs, rather than the original 10,000 as reported. And, of course, the majority of the cuts will still come from Merrill Lynch's side of the investment banking operations.