US banking giant JPMorgan Chase will slash 8,000 jobs this year

The largest US bank, JPMorgan Chase, has announced that it would slash 8,000 jobs in its consumer and community banking division this year.

The bank said on Tuesday that the cuts amount to nearly three percent of its workforce of 251,000 and will be in the mortgage and consumer banking sectors. The two divisions saw 16,500 jobs lost in 2013.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said that the job cuts are part of the adjustments the company has to make continually as its business changes.

“You’re always trimming the sails. That’s business,” Dimon said. “Obviously headcount is coming down in some of the businesses. That is life.”

According to JPMorgan’s senior officials, the layoffs are the result of a fall in mortgage businesses.

Higher interest rates throughout 2013 have prevented more American citizens from refinancing their home loans and the trend is forecast to continue through the end of the first quarter of this year.

Over the past few years, the multinational banking company has lost billions of dollars due to the US recession as well as out-of-court legal settlements.

The head of JPMorgan’s consumer bank, Gordon Smith, said he expected the number of employees who work in the bank’s branches will have declined 20 percent in 2015 from 2011.

JPMorgan is not the only financial giant thinning its workforce. Rivals Bank of America and Wells Fargo also have cut back payrolls over the past few years.