Dive Brief:

• U.S. Bank will raise its minimum hourly wage to $20 for its U.S. and Canada employees starting in November, the Minneapolis-based lender said in a blog post last week.
• The boost marks the second time this year the bank is bumping pay for its lowest-earning employees. U.S. Bank raised its minimum hourly wage from $15 to $18 in June.
• The bank is also giving roughly 35,000 hourly and salaried employees a 3% boost in base pay. “We know that the current economic and inflationary environment is presenting challenges for many people — including our employees,” Elcio Barcelos, the bank’s chief human resources officer, wrote in the blog post. 

Dive Insight:

With its bump, U.S. Bank is following a number of large U.S. lenders in raising hourly pay for its least-compensated employees.

The boost to at least $20 an hour brings the Minneapolis bank in line with another Midwest lender, Chicago-based BMO Harris, which increased its minimum hourly wage to $20 this month.

U.S. Bank, the nation’s fifth-largest retail bank, would still trail two other top-seven lenders that bumped their minimum wage this year: Truist, which is raising its floor to $22 per hour in October; and Bank of America, which gave its lowest-paid workers a boost to $22 per hour in June. That bank has pledged to bump its minimum hourly wage to $25 by 2025.

Employees affected by U.S. Bank’s pay bump include front-line branch, call center and operations center staff. The raise won’t preclude them from merit increases in 2023’s first quarter, the bank said.

“It’s important that we retain and attract talented employees in this competitive job market, and these changes will have meaningful impact for thousands of our team members who are vital to our success and our customers’ success,” Barcelos said.

The changes at U.S. Bank are in response to feedback from employees concerning “the market dynamics impacting them,” according to Wednesday’s announcement.

U.S. Bank’s boost in minimum base pay will also apply to employees joining the company from MUFG Union Bank once that $8 billion transaction, announced last September, is closed. U.S. Bank in May estimated the deal — which still awaits regulatory approval — to be complete in the second half of this year.