March 29, 2005 10:51 AM

Good news and bad news from BOA
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 10:51 AM

OK, which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: over 1,400 jobs have been lost from the former Fleet operations in Massachusetts since the bank's merger with Bank of America:

The Massachusetts layoffs are double the number the bank had previously disclosed. Bank of America chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis and several other top executives told The Boston Globe in September the bank had cut 700 Massachusetts jobs in its merger with Fleet.

So what's the good news, then?

In its merger with Fleet, Bank of America has pledged to maintain the same number of employees in New England -- about 17,900 -- as Fleet had before the deal. Already, Bank of America has revealed plans to create about 1,100 new jobs, including about 400 executives in its Global Wealth and Investment Management division, which is headquartered in Boston, and 700 jobs in a call center in Rhode Island.

Bank of America's president of the Northeast, Anne Finucane, said the bank plans to create 1,800 new jobs in New England over the next two years and will fulfill its employment commitment by 2006.

One employee doing well is CEO Kenneth Lewis. The Globe reports that the CEO was given $22 million in compensation last year, reflecting his role in the bank's successful expansion of operations into the Northeast.
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