Wells Fargo to shrink customer service office in Shoreview, eliminating 400 jobs

Wells Fargo & Co. is shrinking a customer service center in Shoreview, a move that will lead to the elimination of about 400 jobs from November through January.

The company notified the state jobs agency of the impending reduction on Wednesday and the agency issued a public notice about it Friday.

A company spokeswoman said Friday the decision to shrink the center, where about 200 or so people work in a call center and dozens more interact with customers via computer, came after a recent business review.

The San Francisco-based bank for more than a year has been restricted by federal regulators from growing its size until it resolves risk-management and governance problems tied to a fraudulent accounts scandal that became public in 2016.

The company, which operates the nation's fourth-largest bank and Minnesota's second-largest, employs about 16,000 people at dozens of offices around the Twin Cities.

The shrinking of the customer-service center will not affect other Wells Fargo operations in the Shoreview office, at 1801 Park View Drive.

"While we recognize some current jobs will be eliminated with this business decision, the work will be absorbed by other domestic contact center locations," Julie Fogerson, the Wells Fargo spokeswoman, said via e-mail.

Workers will receive details in writing of the reduction plan in November. Some of them will be offered a chance to work in other Wells Fargo offices in Minnesota and around the United States.

In its filing with the jobs agency, Wells Fargo said more than 200 of the jobs being eliminated are on a phone bank. About 90 others are in customer-service roles, many of which are transacted via e-mail, chat and social media.

Fogerson noted Wells Fargo has more than 620 job openings currently in the Twin Cities. She said the company will help affected workers find jobs elsewhere in the region if they choose. It will also offer severance payments and health care benefits that extend beyond employment.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, in its public notice, said an agency specialist had been assigned to help Wells Fargo workers.

Wells Fargo earlier this year laid off about 120 workers in a Bloomington office that was part of payroll-services business that it sold to another firm.

Evan Ramstad • 612-673-4241