BofA’s Job Cuts Offer a Road Map for Navigating Higher Costs

The biggest U.S. banks received a clear message in recent days: Runaway expenses won’t cut it.

Lenders that reported higher-than-expected costs, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and First Republic Bank, had their shares pummeled by investors. Bank of America Corp., on the other hand, showed companies a different way to manage costs despite rising inflation, a war for talent and soaring tech spending.

“Bank of America is a big contrast to JPMorgan,” Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., said in a phone interview. They’re “doing more with less.”

Bank ...