US banking giant Wells Fargo is planning to terminate up to nearly 26,500 jobs of its global workforce over the next three years, in order to streamline its operations.
Image: Wells Fargo to lay off up to 26,500 jobs. Photo: courtesy of Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo blamed the job cuts due to changing customer preferences such as increasing adoption of digital self-service capabilities and others.
The banking giant expects to slash around 5-10% of its nearly 265,000 employees working across 38 countries and territories.
The latest Wells Fargo job cuts will be carried out through a combination of displacements and normal team member attrition.
Currently, the financial services provider is undertaking a transformation program with an objective to address industry trends and changes in customer behavior.
According to Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan, the banking group is implementing fundamental changes in order to make itself more customer-focused, optimized, and better placed for long-term success and operational excellence.
As part of these, the US banking group is looking to strengthen its risk management, simplifying operations, take advantage of digital automation and selling non-core businesses to become a more efficient company.
One of the businesses that the banking giant is offloading is its auto finance business in Puerto Rico for about $1.7bn to Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, through a deal announced in February 2018.
The latest job cuts announcement follows the decision from the US banking giant in January 2018 to close 800 more branches by the year 2020.
Sloan said: “Wells Fargo takes very seriously any change that involves its team members, and as always, we will be thoughtful and transparent, and treat team members with respect.
“We have robust programs to make impacted team members aware of other job opportunities within Wells Fargo and provide support as they transition to the next phase of their careers. And even as we become more efficient, Wells Fargo will remain one of the largest employers in the United States.”
Established in 1852, the San Francisco-based Wells Fargo offers banking, investment and mortgage products and services through 8,050 locations and 13,000 ATMs among other platforms across the world.