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Wells Fargo will be cutting 1,000 jobs after closing its home lending servicing office in Milwaukee, due to fewer homeowners falling behind on payments and seeking help in keeping their homes, according to the Associated Press.
The new wire reports, employees at the office work with U.S. residents who were behind on their home loan payments. In an emailed statement, Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that as the economy has improved over the last two years, fewer customers have become delinquent on their payments, and fewer customers have needed assistance to stay in their homes. The company says it will continue to offer assistance to borrowers facing financial hardship.
Wells Fargo will close the office in late July. It says it will inform employees of other job opportunities within the company.
Wells Fargo said the Milwaukee office is one of its smaller loan servicing sites. About 48,000 people work for the company's home lending business. The San Francisco company has about 265,000 employees in total.
U.S. employers have added more than 5 million jobs over the last two years and the U.S. economy grew in seven of the last eight quarters covering 2013 and 2014, although there are some signs that growth has gotten weaker in 2015.
Wells Fargo shares slipped 51 cents to $54.84 in afternoon trading, but have risen 12 percent over the last 12 months.
Wells Fargo & Co also announced on Wednesday that corporate-banking chief Mike Johnson will retire at the end of the second quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reports, Johnson, a 32-year veteran of Wells Fargo, oversaw the bank’s business involving mostly large, multinational corporations. He reported to wholesale banking chief Timothy Sloan, a member of the company’s operating committee.
Wells Fargo’s corporate bank took in $3.6 billion in revenue in 2013, according to a May 2014 investor presentation from the bank.
“Not only has [Mr. Johnson] helped build one of the industry’s best corporate banking businesses, he’s also been a key figure over the years in helping to define and ingrain our Wells Fargo culture of always putting the customer first,” said Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf in a memo to employees.
The bank hasn’t decided on a successor to Mr. Johnson.
(Reporting by Marley Jay and Peter Rudegeair)
