Wachovia plans to cut 300 jobs in San Antonio
Written on July 25, 2008
Wachovia Corp. will eliminate 300 employees at its Wiseman Boulevard Operations Center, the company said Thursday.
The layoffs are part of the financial services company’s larger plans to lay off “fewer than” 1,000 employees across Texas.
Company spokesman Joe Stroop says the 300 employees to be laid-off are a result of the Wachovia’s elimination of its pick-a-payment loan program, generically known as an Option ARM loan.
Stroop says the affected employees have been offered severance package and the opportunity to re-train for other positions that may be available within the company.
“They’ll be helped with their job search and will be provided career counseling as part of their transition,” Stroop says, stressing that the layoffs are not about job performance. “We just don’t make those loans anymore.”
Wachovia acquired the pick-a-payment mortgage product when it purchased Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006. However, Stroop says it decided to discontinue the product because it wasn’t good for business.
Stroop says the layoffs may precipitate other layoffs.
Just two days ago, the financial services company announced its plans to eliminate some 10,750 jobs and open positions across the company. Of these, says Stroop, fewer than 1,000 may be cut in Texas.
Stroop says no call center or teller positions will be eliminated. But there may be more displacements in its mortgage divisions across Wachovia.
“Where and when that might occur, I truly do not know,” Stroop says, stressing, that all is dependent upon how the market is doing. “We’re going to continue to assess the housing industry and our role in it. And we have an obligation to employees and shareholders to make sure that as we assess how things are going, if we need to evaluate our staffing needs, that we’re going to do that.”
The slated layoffs Stroop says are a result of Wachovia’s plans to strengthen its finances by preserving capital and liquidity, cutting expenses, shrinking its loan portfolio and selling off assets.
Stroop says Wachovia remains committed to San Antonio and to having a strong presence as the Wiseman Operations Center.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia (NYSE: WB) is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of $812.4 billion and market capitalization of $33.5 billion as of June 30, 2008. It provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. It has 3,300 retail financial centers in 21 states.