Wells Fargo to integrate corporate and investment bank: WSJ

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) is planning to integrate its corporate and investment bank in an effort to reduce costs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The bank's plans, which could lead to layoffs in the future, will affect some industry coverage groups, advisory teams, equity and debt capital markets origination and certain corporate-banking relationship managers, according to the WSJ report. (on.wsj.com/2GV0Prl)

Wells Fargo’s corporate bank and investment bank, though not fully merged, will now share profit and loss targets across industry verticals, the Journal said.

The Journal also reported that the bank has told staff of several dozen layoffs as recently as on Wednesday in its markets division, which is part of Wells Fargo’s wholesale division along with corporate and investing banking.

Those layoffs affect senior and junior employees in areas including credit sales and trading units and are based on a review of the business and staffing level adjustments, one of the people told WSJ. The layoffs are not directly tied to the corporate bank and investment bank integration, the person said.

The San Francisco-based bank declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.