Wells Fargo & Co.'s decision on Wednesday to eliminate 102 more jobs in its Minnesota mortgage operations lifts the number of job cuts there to more than 750 since mid-July.

The latest cut in the Twin Cities was part of a broader move that affected 925 Wells Fargo employees around the country as the nation's largest mortgage lender adjusts to the shifting landscape for home loans.

"While interest rates remain very favorable by historical standards for home buyers, a recent rise in rates has affected consumer demand for mortgage refinancing, causing volumes to fall below what we experienced throughout 2012 and early 2013," said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Peggy Gunn.

"We are reducing staff in Minnesota to respond to this shift in demand and to better align and increase the efficiency of our organization."

Wells Fargo has more than 20,000 employees in Minnesota, and about 8,000 work in its mortgage operation that has offices around the Twin Cities, including a large campus in south Minneapolis. Most of the cuts in the latest round are being felt at the company's south Minneapolis campus, Gunn said.

Last month, the San Francisco-based bank eliminated 1,865 jobs across the country, including 332 in the Twin Cities. That announcement came on the heels of cuts in August that eliminated 161 jobs in the Twin Cities mortgage operation and eliminated 34 jobs in the company's Minneapolis staff.

With the addition of some jobs in some mortgate-related joint ventures that were eliminated in July, Wells Fargo in total has cut 769 jobs in the Twin Cities over the past four months, Gunn said.

Gunn said the company is committed to retaining as many employees as possible and will work with them to find other jobs within Wells Fargo.

Mary Lynn Smith