Wells Fargo cuts 700 commercial banking jobs: Bloomberg News

(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co (N:WFC) has cut 700 commercial banking jobs as part of workforce reductions that could ultimately impact “tens of thousands” of staff, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The bank resumed job cuts in early August after it paused layoffs in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wells Fargo said in July it would launch a broad cost-cutting initiative this year as the bank braces for massive loan losses caused by the pandemic and continues to work through expensive regulatory and operational problems tied to a long-running sales scandal.

Layoffs, branch closures and cuts to third-party spending are on the table, the bank’s executives had then said.

Big U.S. banks had postponed decisions about staff cuts when the virus outbreak first began to take hold, with executives saying they were unsure how long the outbreak would hurt the economy and worried about being unprepared if business suddenly snapped back.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (N:GS) said last month it plans to move forward with “a modest number of layoffs”.

Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.