Wells Fargo Slashes 700 Jobs In Technology Overhaul

Peter Gilchrist, the spokesman, cited Wells Fargo would cut about 700 jobs in Manila. Some of the posts would be transferred to India, where the company already had about 12,000 technology workers. Wells Fargo also explained about 650 tech employees in the U.S. that they would require to relocate to a broader market to retain their employment.

The bank has planned to spend $5 million in cryptocurrency startups and the recent move of shuffling and slashing of jobs could be well in line with the banks larger plan to venture into the digital currency space.

Gilchrist Citation On The Job Cut

In a statement, Gilchrist cited it was a global workplace strategy part that emphasized collaboration and co-location. He further added that the strategy would eventually offer meaningful benefits to their workers and customers. Still, they recognized this change would have a significant impact on some workers and their families.

Banks had been merging operations on technology, frequently closing sites, to increase efficiency and cut costs. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had declared that some jobs would move to campuses in Bengaluru(India) and London. In October, Bank of America Corp. cited it had focused its servers into 23 data centres over 67 sites.

In Manila, the tech workforce of Wells Fargo dropped from 750 to 50 under the plan. The changes that were declared this week were a part of the strategy introduced by Saul Van Beurden, the technology head, after his joining from JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2019.

A Move To Turn Around Wells Fargo

Beurden's new boss, Charlie Scharf, the CEO, was doing broad changes in the organization aiming to turn around Wells Fargo after years of rumours. Wells Fargo's technology had been focused by the regulators, especially after a high-profile and days-long failure of one of the data centres of the bank last year.

Gilchrist cited that Wells Fargo has been offering extensive support and significant notice period to all the impacted workers, and they won't lose their positions until the year's end.