Sovereign Bank to cut 950 jobs
Sovereign Bancorp Inc., whose sale to Banco Santander SA was finalized in January, confirmed another round of layoffs today.
Sovereign Bancorp Inc., whose sale to Banco Santander SA was finalized in January, confirmed another round of layoffs today.
This time, 950 jobs will be cut in the eight East Coast states in which Sovereign operates. In December, the company announced that it was cutting 1,000 jobs. It now has 10,700 employees.
Sovereign's more than 3,000 employees in Pennsylvania are receiving special treatment because of a shareholder lawsuit that opposed the Santander takeover. It gave Pennsylvania workers job protection until January 31, 2010.
Ed Shultz, director of corporate communications for Sovereign, said 221 employees in Pennsylvania have been offered a voluntary separation package that would continue their pay and benefits until Jan. 31. He would not reveal details but said that is a better severance deal than laid off employees in other states are getting.
Pennsylvania employees who decide not to take the deal can continue working until at least Jan. 31, Shultz said. He said he did not know how employees in other states would be affected if large numbers of Pennsylvania workers refuse to leave voluntarily.
Shultz said the layoffs stem from general economic conditions, not the Santander takeover.
"In light of the current economic environment, Sovereign has indentified areas of savings within the company," he said. "Unfortunately that includes reductions in our work force. . . . Everyone's tightening their belts and looking at ways to identify areas of savings."
Sovereign is based in Wyomissing outside Reading. Its corporate offices are in Boston. It has 900 employees in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Shultz said the job losses will be spread throughout the organization geographically and across job titles. None of its more than 750 bank branches is slated to close.
He said the layoffs will not affect customer service.
Sovereign was forced to sell itself to Santander, which is based in Spain and was Sovereign's largest shareholder, after customers pulled $4.2 billion, or 9 percent, in deposits.