(Business Week) -- After a three-decade career in banking, John Hurst found himself unemployed in November, caught up in Bank of America Corp (BAC).’s plans to cut more than 30,000 employees by 2015.
Hurst tried for three months to find another position in the industry, figuring his 26 years at the bank, most recently as a vice president reporting completions for required courses, would help. After a few interviews and no offers, “I started thinking, what is Plan B?” he said. “I haven’t had to look for a job in 37 years.”
He sought advice from a state employment program in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, where his old bank is based -- and wound up switching fields last month, joining HF Financial as a representative with a goal of becoming a financial planner.
Hurst’s experience isn’t uncommon in the U.S. banking industry. By the second quarter of this year, banks had lost more than 62,000 jobs since September 2008, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
To help implement the 2010 Dodd-Frank banking overhaul law and cope with the wave of foreclosures and refinancings, financial institutions hired compliance and mortgage servicing staff. Now, facing a slowing economy and new capital and regulatory requirements, banks are undertaking another wave of cuts -- this time in response to fundamental shifts in the industry, said analysts including Richard Bove in Lutz, Florida, with Rochdale Securities LLC.
