Wells Fargo Said to Cut 22 Currency Sales Jobs Amid Malaise
Wells Fargo’s foreign-exchange business cut 22 salespeople, the latest casualties of a slump in market activity.
(Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co.’s foreign-exchange business cut 22 salespeople, according to a person briefed on the matter, the latest casualties of a slump in market activity.
Affected employees worked in locations including St. Louis and Atlanta, where the bank is consolidating operations elsewhere, the person said. Some staff are being moved to other offices, while others are leaving the company, the person said.
“Wells Fargo is fully committed to our FX business,” Jessica Ong, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based bank, said Monday in an emailed statement. “We continually evaluate our resources and staffing levels to ensure we are aligned to meet the needs of our customers as part of normal course of business.” She confirmed that operations in St. Louis and Atlanta are being moved.
The $5.1 trillion-a-day currency market has been plagued by low volatility, even amid heightened trade and geopolitical tensions over the past year, making it harder to eke out profits on swings. Foreign-exchange trading revenue at 12 of the largest global investment banks dropped 21 percent last year to $7.1 billion, according to data from Coalition Development Ltd. That was the lowest total in more than seven years.
In March, Wells Fargo said it’s responding to queries from government agencies into its foreign-exchange business. Several employees left the unit last year over a transaction for a client, the company said at the time.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hannah Levitt in New York at hlevitt@bloomberg.net;Lananh Nguyen in New York at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill
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