JPMorgan Chase Announces Job Cuts

The largest bank in the United States, JPMorgan Chase & Co., announced on Tuesday that it will cut thousands of jobs, according to Reuters.

The company noted that the workforce will drop to 260,000 in 2014. That means that the bank will have to cut some 5,000 jobs. In the home loans unit of the bank, 6,000 jobs will be lost for full-time and contractor employees. In the branch and credit card network, 2,000 jobs will be cut. The bank did say that it will add 3,000 jobs to its control function.

Marianne Lake, the bank’s chief financial officer, spoke at the annual conference with investors. Lake said that the bank might post a higher profit, close to $27 billion per year, when short-term interest rates increase. In 2013, the bank netted $18 billion in income. Lake also said that when excluding one-time items, the income was $23 billion.

Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, said that job cuts come with the territory due to the company’s business changing.

“You’re always trimming the sails. That’s business,” Dimon said. “Obviously headcount is coming down in some of the businesses. That is life.”

With the announcement of more job cuts in the mortgage department of the bank, the total to be laid off by the end of 2014 is now raised to 17,000.

The cuts announced for the branches and credit card network increase the figure announced in 2013, which was 4,000.