Bank of America Corp. said yesterday that it will lay off 57 people in its Baltimore offices.

The job cuts, which the bank reported to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, are to take effect Oct. 9.

Jobs being cut are in the bank's research and adjustment division and the returned items research division. The two departments handle the processing of checks and duties such as finding lost checks.

Those tasks will now be handled from Bank of America's Tampa, Fla., offices because of the reduced volume of the work in Baltimore, said bank spokeswoman Terri Bolling.

In general, the bank has become more efficient at processing checks, while other types of transactions, such as check cards, are growing, Bolling said.

"Customers are doing less paper checks, so there's less of a need," she said.

North Carolina-based Bank of America has 3,600 employees in Maryland and 1,200 in Baltimore.

Bolling said the bank will try to place the laid-off workers in other departments within the company. It is also giving the employees computer training and helping them with resumes.