Bank of America job cuts likely to be worse than expected

It looks like the job cuts at Bank of America could be three times as bad as expected. Business television station CNBC is reporting that up to 30,000 jobs could be cut as Bank of America merges with Merrill Lynch.

If there's any good news in this for Charlotte, it's that the vast majority of the job cuts are supposed to be in New York City.

UNC Charlotte professor Tony Plath says most of the cuts are rumored to be in investment banking.

"It's going to hit the Merrill Lynch side harder than it will hit the general bank," Plath told us. Plath added that even the cuts on the Bank of America side are likely to be mostly out of New York, because that's where B of A's investment banking is headquartered.

Still, Plath says if 30,000 jobs are cut, there's no way Charlotte can escape unscathed. He estimates the Queen City will lose anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand jobs, but says it's too early to tell.

Plath says the timing of these cuts couldn't be worse. They'll likely take effect late this year into the first quarter of next year. During that first quarter, Wells Fargo is also expected to announce job cuts when it completes its expected takeover of Wachovia.

"Both of those layoff rounds are going to hit the market in Charlotte at the same time," Plath said. "It's going to be a bad first quarter here."

Plath says the effect of Wells Fargo/Wachovia job cuts is likely to hit the Queen City harder than the Bank of America cuts will -- meaning the bad news for Charlotte is far from over.