Dive Brief:
- USAA has cut jobs in its banking division, according to a Thursday report by the San Antonio Express-News, which cited interviews with employees and social media posts.
- The San Antonio-based insurance and financial services company eliminated roles in information technology, business continuation, client advising and human resources, according to the outlet, which gleaned information from posts on LinkedIn and from discussion boards Reddit and The Layoff, in addition to talking to former employees.
- The layoffs follow a round of job cuts the bank made in its mortgage division in March amid a drop in demand for home loans.
Dive Insight:
The recent job cuts are reportedly in the “triple digits” and appear to be aimed at restructuring the business, a former employee told the Express-News.
Employees were given a 60-day notice, and most, if not all, are being given severance and transition support, the former worker told the outlet.
Another employee, however, said many workers were given notice last week, and USAA did not give a reason for why the roles and departments were being axed, according to the paper.
“We make business decisions that enable us to deliver exceptional service, including responding to changing member needs as well as shifts in the marketplace. This includes investing more heavily in growth areas, scaling back or stopping work in others and changing the way we’re organized,” USAA said in a statement. “Anytime employees are impacted, we treat them with care and dignity – and support them in finding another position at USAA or elsewhere.”
Like other lenders in recent months, USAA made cuts to its mortgage division in March amid a nationwide drop in demand for home loans and refinancing.
The company cut 90 jobs in its mortgage arm that month amid projections of a 34% drop to some 25,000 real estate loans.
“[T]hese headwinds are expected for the foreseeable future and the size of our current workforce is larger than what is needed for the work ahead,” the department’s head, Thom Cianelli, wrote to staff in an email, according to the Express-News.
USAA is not alone in trimming its ranks in mortgage lending. Wells Fargo initiated one round of cuts in April and another in June as mortgage origination volume and refinancing saw steep drops.
USAA’s reported cuts follow several leadership changes at the company.
The company promoted Paul Vincent from head of retail banking to president of the bank in February 2021. That same month, USAA tapped Neeraj Singh, a former Citi executive, as its new chief risk officer.
Those changes have come as regulators levied penalties over USAA’s alleged poor compliance and risk management practices in recent years.
The bank in March agreed to pay $140 million to settle allegations it failed to maintain sufficient anti-money laundering (AML) safeguards from at least January 2016 until April 2021.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fined the company a $85 million in 2020 over failures in its compliance risk management and IT risk governance programs.
