Bank of America dealmakers Saxena, Mukherjee said to depart

[HONG KONG] Bank of America Corp's head of Asia Pacific telecom and media investment banking, Gautam Saxena, and managing director Saikat Mukherjee have left the US firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr Saxena and Mr Mukherjee were based in Singapore, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. E-mails sent to the two bankers' work addresses were returned as undeliverable.

Bank of America plans to eliminate about a dozen senior positions at its corporate and investment-banking operations in Asia, the second time it's cutting jobs in the region this year, people with knowledge of the matter said this week. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's Asia cuts will involve managing directors and directors, according to those people.

Paul Scanlon, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Bank of America, declined to comment.

Global investment banks have been under pressure to reduce costs as South-east Asia dealmaking dries up and Chinese competitors make inroads in equity and debt underwriting.

Mergers and acquisitions involving South-east Asian companies this year fell to US$78.6 billion, down 18 per cent from the same period in 2015, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc plans to cut about a quarter of the positions at its investment bank in Asia outside Japan, a person with knowledge of the matter said last week.

Bank of America, which eliminated more than 10,000 jobs globally in 2015, fired at least 15 senior investment bankers in Asia in March, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

BLOOMBERG