Dive Brief:

• Bank of America has initiated a partial hiring freeze as it attempts to quell costs and braces for a possible recession, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
• Executives at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank have been told to pause hiring except for the most vital positions, according to the wire service.
• A Bank of America spokesperson told Banking Dive the firm does not have plans for widespread job cuts, and will continue to hire for some key roles, including banking, trading, wealth management and technology. The firm, however, will hold off on bringing in new hires until at least midyear or until the economy improves, sources told Bloomberg.

Dive Insight:

During the bank’s fourth-quarter earnings call last week, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan told analysts the firm overachieved in its goal to hire last year.

“We slowed that down, and that allowed us to get back in line and start to bring the headcount back down to where we wanted to be,” he said.

The bank’s headcount increased by 3,600 from the previous quarter, Bank of America CFO Alastair Borthwick said Friday. 

“And as we faced increased attrition in 2022, our teams were quite successful in their hiring efforts to continue to support customers,” Borthwick said. “As the attrition slowed in the fall, our accelerated pace of hiring outpaced attrition, leaving us with growth in our headcount.”

The lender’s overall headcount jumped to 216,823 at the end of last year, up from 208,248 a year earlier, according to Bloomberg.

While other firms, such as BNY Mellon, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have initiated culls in their workforces amid a potential recession, Bank of America has so far managed to avoid such measures. 

“I’m confident, if we need to manage headcount, when people leave us to go join other employers, we just won’t fill all the jobs,” Moynihan told Fox News in September. “We employ 210,000 people. And we have employed that amount for the last five or seven years. So it’s been relatively stable.”

Meanwhile, economic headwinds have not slowed hiring at other large lenders. 

JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum last week said the bank is still hiring and “in growth mode,” according to Reuters. 

And Citi CFO Mark Mason said the firm is “actively hiring” while “re-pacing where that makes sense in light of the environment that we’re in,” the wire service reported.