Wells Fargo & Co. has notified 161 people in its Minneapolis mortgage operation that their jobs will end in 60 days, alongside similar notifications in other cities.
Altogether, Wells Fargo is cutting an additional 2,323 mortgage jobs as higher interest rates eat into the big business the bank has done refinancing home loans.
The latest trims affected more employees than Wells Fargo's other recent cuts as it adjusts its giant mortgage operations to a slowing mortgage scene.
The 2,323 new cuts amount to about 3 percent of the 70,000 people in the bank's consumer lending business, which includes mortgages. The bank doesn't break out the size of its mortgage workforce.
Bank spokeswoman Peggy Gunn said the bank is "reducing staff to better align and increase the efficiency of our organization."
"While interest rates remain very favorable by historical standards for home buyers and lenders, the fast-paced consumer demand for mortgage refinancing we experienced throughout 2012 and early 2013 is slowing somewhat," Gunn said.
Gunn said the bank will try to find new jobs in Wells Fargo for the people who are cut.
About 8,500 of Wells Fargo's nearly 20,000 employees in Minnesota work in its home mortgage division.