At Bank of America, the board of directors has started to review its consultants’ advice on ways to shrink the bank to help make it financially viable. The bank is not expected to do anything drastic, but instead will be making incremental steps. One widely reported plan involves cutting 10 to 14 percent of the bank’s staff in the next few months, followed by 500 to 1,000 branch closings next year, but nothing so specific has actually been decided yet. Wall Street worried about its largest bank this week, and this, along with continuing worries about Europe, was the main thing that pulled the U.S. stock market lower.
A bank failure at closing time tonight: The First National Bank of Florida, with 8 locations in the Florida panhandle and $280 million in deposits. Georgia-based Charter Bank is taking over the deposits and purchasing the assets.
