U.S. Bancorp to shed more than 700 jobs

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Facing pressure to reduce expenses, U.S. Bancorp will trim its headcount by 1% across the company.

In an email to American Banker, a spokeswoman for the $465 billion-asset U.S. Bancorp confirmed that the company would trim about 740 positions, or approximately 1% of its total workforce of 74,000. The company did not release an exact figure.

“We are always looking at our business to be sure we are operating as effectively as possible to serve customers and create value for those who rely on us,” the spokeswoman said. “We place a high priority on treating people respectfully in these situations, and we will be providing them with severance and outplacement assistance as they pursue new opportunities.”

Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Though the company would not specify what types of jobs would be eliminated, the spokeswoman said that U.S. Bank had also added around 2,000 other positions over the past year in a variety of areas.

Bank executives, particularly at regional banks, have come under increasing pressure lately to reduce expenses amid sluggish loan demand and rising deposit costs. U.S. Bank was one large regional that faced questioning on that matter during its latest quarterly earnings call, with company executives defending the bank’s spending on technology.

Overall noninterest expenses increased 2% to $3 billion at the Minneapolis company, but technology expenses rose at a faster pace, increasing 9% to about $247 million.

On a call to discuss the company’s earnings, CFO Terry Dolan said the company has some flexibility for reducing expenses elsewhere, if necessary. He gave mortgage banking as an example of one area where the company could “continue to optimize.”

“If it’s a lower-revenue environment, we will continue to make the investments in terms of those digital initiatives and capabilities, and we’ll figure out other discretionary types of spending that we can be managing,” he said.