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Wells Fargo, the scandal-plagued bank that hired a new CEO last year, is expecting layoffs amid a COVID-19 economic boom that has cooled the once-thriving U.S. labor market.
The bank initially paused what it called “new job distributions” as the pandemic shut down swaths of U.S. companies, but it resumed them in August without indicating how many positions would be cut.
“We expect to reduce the size of our workforce through a combination of attrition, eliminating open roles, and job shifts,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Beth Richek told FOX Business. “We do this work in a conceivable and conscious way, and we will communicate openly and honestly with affected employees.”
WELLS FARGO PREPARED FROM THOUSAND BETWEEN JOBS: REPORT
A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past a Wells Fargo & Co. bank branch. in New York on July 9, 2020. (Peter Foley / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
By trimming its workforce, Wells Fargo says it will bring its spending “more in line with our peers and create a business that is more sober, streamlined and customer-oriented.”
CEO Charlie Scharf had promised significant cost cuts in July after the bank reported its first quarterly loss since 2008, noting that the company was far less efficient than its competitors.
The San Francisco-based financier, who has replaced two CEOs over the past four years while wrestling with scandals from setting up millions of counterfeit accounts to improper fees charged to mortgage and auto-lending customers, said it divorce and career aid will provide affected employees, who will lose their positions during the worst economic downturn since World War II.
Nationwide, more than a million workers lost jobs last week alone, bringing the total number of people looking for unemployment benefits to about 14.8 million.
WELLS FARGO TIGHTENS PURSE STRINGS TO RIDE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Bloomberg reported in July that the bank would cut tens of thousands of positions later this year to reduce costs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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