3,500 jobs are cut at Bank of America

Bank of America will axe 3,500 jobs by the end of September, joining a growing list of banks repositioning themselves worldwide amid stubbornly slow economic recoveries.

For BofA, the biggest US bank by assets, the job cuts continue a broad push to slash expenses and build capital as it grapples with a $1 trillion (£605bn) portfolio of problematic home mortgage loans.

The cuts, revealed in an internal memo, are expected to be supplemented by additional cost-cutting. The lender had 280,000 employees at the start of 2011.