B of A’s Bureaucracy

Bank of America’s problems are not all due to bad loans in real estate, agriculture and the Third World. Basic in-house management must be questioned. Let me give one obvious example. The ratio of employees per branch for Bank of America is an incredible 71, while the same ratio for First Interstate Bank is a more reasonable 35, based on data in The Times.

It is a simple truth that in any bureaucratic organization, excess employees exist by creating excess work for each other. Bank of America’s overstaffing serves neither the needs of the customer nor the stockholder.

ROBERT J. HAGSTROM

Northridge