Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Here is the article:
Wells Fargo’s cost-cutting efforts will include layoffs, most likely by the end of the year, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry told investors at a Morgan Stanley conference Wednesday.
“We now have the fact that we're in a public health crisis, and we've committed to keep people on while that is true. But there will come a time, I assume at some point this year, when we get back to executing on programs that are in place, and some that are still under development, that are designed to get our total expense base, which for us means our total headcount, to as lean a state as we can responsibly operate,” Shrewsberry said, adding that automation and other changes can also contribute to expense cuts.
He said CEO Charlie Scharf’s focus now is the “risk and control work” that regulators require.
“The playbook is thickening for how to become as efficient as we can be,” Shrewsberry said. “Charlie thinks about this as going business by business and understanding who the most efficient and admirable competitors are by component piece of our business and charting a course to get there.
“We’ve got the same scale as the most efficient players do,” Shrewsberry said. “There’s no reason that we should operate in a less efficient way.”
Investors are watching closely to see how quickly Wells can boost its operating efficiency. The bank’s efficiency ratio, which is noninterest expense divided by total revenue, was 73.6% on March 31, compared to what JPMorgan Chase call its "managed overhead ratio" of 58%.
The Wells executive said it will take time to achieve the company’s cost-cutting goals.
Wells Fargo declined to comment further, when I asked Wednesday for a timeframe on the layoffs, what areas of the bank will be hit and in what cities the job cuts will occur. Wells Fargo employs 263,000 globally, with 14,500 workers in the nine-county Bay Area.
Wall Street was more concerned Wednesday with Shrewsberry’s warning that its second-quarter loan loss provision will exceed the first quarter’s set-aside of $3.8 billion for future loan losses as the nation slipped into recession.
“The severity of the economic forecast is a big part of it, but we will be providing more in the second quarter to make sure that … we’ve got the full coverage for the losses that we can imagine,” Shrewsberry said of the second-quarter reserve for future loan losses.
On Wednesday, Wells Fargo shares closed in New York at $29.71, down $2.92, or almost 9%.
Shrewsberry also offered some insight into mortgage forbearance requests at Wells, which are running higher than the national average. The executive said that figure, covering Wells Fargo’s mortgages and those it services for others, reflects in part the large number of first-time homebuyers getting loans backed by Ginnie Mae and serviced by Wells.
He also said that Wells intentionally made it “really easy” for borrowers to request forbearance as the Covid-19 outbreak spurred the economic downturn. Some borrowers on forbearance are still making their mortgage payments.
“We’ve received requests for forbearance relating to 12% to 13% of mortgage balances,” Shrewsberry said. The number of mortgages in forbearance climbed to 8.46% of all mortgages, the Mortgage Bankers Association said June 1.
The Wells executive said some borrowers requested forbearance to conserve cash but some are still paying on their mortgages.
“It’s not as though all stopped paying,” Shrewsberry said.

I really hope the most recent post (impressed with the leadership at the Stagecoach) is being facetious.
Unless you’re impressed with out-of touch cut-throat executives who make sure they get their money first. Executives who are only interested in saving themselves. Leaders who have created a stressed-out culture of disrespect and mistrust. Leaders who only promote the yes-men and who punish those who speak out. Leaders who have ran our stock in to the ground. Amoral leaders who still, after everything, know absolutely zero about putting our client’s best interests first.

Always so impressed with the leadership continuity at the Stagecoach over the past 10 years despite everything. A few headline cuts and a new CEO, but essentially the same decision makers at the division level. Tremendous camaraderie and culture of loyalty (at a certain level).

You got it!!! They only paused because of peer pressure and reputational risk. Shows they don’t really give a care about their employees but we knew that already.

So they previously publicly declared that they were pausing layoffs during the pandemic (and through the end of the year I believe) and now they’re keeping us all in suspense that the axe could fall at any moment?

I paid for it and it was much about nothing. It was basically shrewsberry or whoever reinforcing layoffs will happen by end of year in the inirerest of efficiency. They understand COVID is still going on but they said the bank is still overstaffed. They declined to comment on when they will start or which groups will be impacted. There was a comparison to other banks that said our expenses are 70% of revenue and the industry is at about 53%.

Can someone copy and paste the content of the article?

This is the program that is already in place and was announced last year. Basically, looking to cut operations costs through automation (Robotic Process Automation, etc), some offshoring, process and organizational simplification (we don't need three teams to manage money movement) and other areas.

“We need to operate as lean as possible”. So how should we do this??? I know! Hire all my friends!!!