State Street Corp. intends to lay off about 1,200 employees, Eric Aboaf, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said during the firm's fourth quarter earnings call.
Speaking Tuesday, Mr. Aboaf said that most of the workers who are to leave the company are in "middle management" and their absence will be "partially offset by insourcing and critical hires during the year. This complements the senior management reductions we made two years ago and the ongoing reduction of junior roles through automation that were deferred during the COVID-19 pandemic," according to a transcript of the call.
The company booked an $82 million employee severance charge in the fourth quarter as part of the action, he said. A company spokesman said in an email that the layoffs will be made throughout the year.
In a statement accompanying State Street's first quarter earnings call last April, President and CEO Ronald P. O'Hanley said there would be no layoffs among the company's global workforce in 2020, adding, "I believe this is the right decision for our culture, community and clients."
However, as part of the company's ongoing cost-cutting measures, he said at that time that State Street would maintain its hiring freeze for non-critical positions.
During the turmoil produced last year by the pandemic, State Street created an internal talent marketplace that "offers enhanced internal mobility and talent matching across our company and is a fundamentally new way to manage and develop talent at State Street," spokesman Brendan Paul said in an email.
State Street employees who lose their current jobs will be able to join the talent marketplace, he said.
Positions likely to be eliminated are primarily "part of operating model changes (and) business process changes as well as automation," Mr. Paul said.
As of Dec. 31, State Street Global Advisors managed a total of $3.47 trillion.
