Strong earnings are proving to be little protection against layoffs at some of America’s largest financial institutions.
Throughout 2026, major banks and credit card companies have continued eliminating jobs even as several report rising revenue and profits. While the reasons vary, the reductions reflect a broader effort to simplify operations, exit less-profitable businesses, and redirect resources toward technology and other areas expected to drive future growth.
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Wells Fargo is among the financial giants continuing to reduce staffing, with its latest notices identifying 173 positions across Iowa and Virginia scheduled for elimination before the end of the year.
The reductions add to a lengthy series of job cuts at the bank, whose workforce has already contracted by more than 10,000 employees during the first nine months of 2026.
Wells Fargo announces latest layoffs in two states
Wells Fargo plans to eliminate 86 positions at its Jordan Creek campus in West Des Moines, Iowa, effective Dec. 26, according to an Oct. 27 notice filed with Iowa Workforce Development.
The announcement represents the bank’s largest single layoff round at the campus since 2021.
According to Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN records, Wells Fargo has disclosed layoffs affecting 525 positions at its West Des Moines operations, with separation dates scheduled throughout 2026. Of those, 460 positions were covered by notices issued this year, while another 65 were announced in late 2025.
The reductions also extend to Virginia, where Wells Fargo plans to permanently eliminate 87 positions at its Roanoke County customer-support facility, according to three company WARN letters reviewed by TheStreet.
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The letters, dated Sept. 29, Oct. 13 and Oct. 27, identify 60 employees scheduled for separation on Nov. 28, another six on Dec. 12 and 21 more on Dec. 26.
Unlike the Iowa notices, the Virginia filings provide a detailed breakdown of the positions affected, showing that 82 of the 87 jobs are associated with fraud and claims operations. Customer-service managers, a customer-service representative and a risk analytics director are also among the employees affected.
Wells Fargo described the reductions as an exit from support operations within its Chief Operating Office, with one position also affected in its Corporate Risk division.
The cuts come three years after the bank announced an $87 million project to modernize and expand the same Roanoke County facility, an investment that was expected to create approximately 1,100 jobs, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
Wells Fargo said it would provide eligible affected employees with severance benefits and career-transition assistance.
Wells Fargo’s workforce shrinks despite stronger earnings
The latest reductions are part of a longer-running effort to improve efficiency at Wells Fargo, which has consistently reduced its workforce while continuing to invest in areas of the business it wants to expand.
According to the bank’s third-quarter financial supplement filed with the SEC, Wells Fargo employed 194,369 people at the end of September, compared with 205,198 at the end of December 2025.
That represents a net reduction of 10,829 employees during the first nine months of 2026. Compared with September 2025, the bank’s workforce has declined by 16,452 employees, or approximately 8%.
The figures reflect the overall change in headcount rather than the number of people specifically laid off, as employee departures and hiring activity also affect the total.
Meanwhile, the staffing reductions have continued despite improvements in the bank’s financial performance. Wells Fargo reported nearly $6 billion in third-quarter net income, up 6% from a year earlier, while revenue increased 2% to $21.9 billion, according to its October 13 earnings release.
The company also reported a $276 million year-over-year decline in personnel expenses, attributing the decrease in part to lower severance costs and efficiency initiatives, including a smaller workforce.
Other major banks cut thousands of jobs
American Express became one of the latest financial giants to announce a major restructuring on Oct. 23, revealing plans to eliminate approximately 5% of its global positions as part of a $336 million initiative.
The reductions could affect roughly 3,500 employees. As TheStreet previously reported, the planned cuts could exceed the net number of employees American Express added during the previous two years. The announcement was particularly notable because American Express had just reported record third-quarter revenue of $20.1 billion, a 9% increase from the previous year.
During the company’s earnings call, Squeri said the restructuring was intended to make American Express more agile by simplifying its organizational structure, reducing management layers and accelerating decision-making.
Other banks have taken different approaches to reducing expenses, including withdrawing from businesses that no longer align with their priorities.
In September, TheStreet reported that Truist was eliminating 205 jobs as it prepared to close a Texas facility associated with Regional Acceptance Corporation, its longtime auto-financing subsidiary. The decision followed Truist’s move to exit a $5.5 billion near-prime auto-loan portfolio as it focused on lending to businesses offering stronger long-term returns.
Citigroup, meanwhile, began 2026 by eliminating roughly 1,000 positions as part of its previously announced plan to reduce staffing by 20,000 jobs by the end of the year, according to Reuters.
Morgan Stanley also cut approximately 2,500 positions, or 3% of its workforce, in March, with reductions affecting its investment banking, trading, wealth management and investment management divisions, Reuters reported.
However, the broader employment data presents a more nuanced picture.
According to the October 2026 Challenger, Gray & Christmas report, released Nov. 5, financial-sector employers announced 24,540 job cuts during the first 10 months of the year, down approximately 50% from the 48,968 cuts announced during the same period in 2025.
Although financial-sector job-cut announcements have declined overall, the continued restructuring at major institutions indicates that efforts to improve efficiency remain an important consideration in staffing decisions.
AI could lead to further workforce reductions in banking
Alongside traditional cost-cutting and business restructuring, artificial intelligence is becoming another consideration in how financial institutions plan their future workforces.
At the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference on Sept. 15, Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo discussed how AI could help employees complete certain tasks more efficiently across technology, legal, finance, operations and call centers.
He said the bank was already using AI-powered coding tools and saw opportunities to reduce the amount of additional staffing needed as different business units expand.
“It will bring headcount down more,” Santomassimo said, according to a transcript of the conference.
The growing role of AI in workforce decisions is also reflected in national employment data.
Challenger reported that employers across U.S. industries cited artificial intelligence in 121,401 announced job cuts through October, accounting for approximately 20% of all cuts during the period.
Still, AI was not the leading reason cited by employers through October. Market and economic conditions overtook technology as the most frequently cited explanation, according to the report.
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