San Francisco-based Bank-America also said it plans to open offices on Maui and the Big Island and expand its Kauai office.

Jeff Hershberger, spokesman for BankAmerica Mortgage Group, said the company plans to eliminate 36 of Honolulu Mortgage's 92 jobs and move some loan servicing operations to Cypress, Calif.

Laid-off employees will be offered severance packages equal to three weeks salary for each year of continuous service with Honolulu Mortgage, Hershberger said.

Most of Honolulu Mortgage's customer service workers and loan officers will remain in Hawaii, the company said.

When it completed its purchase of Honolulu Mortgage from Florida-based Homeside Lending Inc. two weeks ago, BankAmerica said it planned to retain its employees.

Hershberger said the change in plans came after Bank-America evaluated local operations.

He said BankAmerica is now looking at locations for new offices on Maui and in Kona and Hilo on the Big Island.

"We're looking to aggressively increase our presence in the retail mortgage lending market," he said.