JPMorgan to cut 8,000 jobs

JPMorgan Chase plans to eliminate 8,000 jobs this year as its mortgage business shrinks and the giant bank aims to control costs at its branches. About half of those job cuts had already been announced. JPMorgan Chase now plans to cut more jobs — about 3 percent of its workforce of 251,000 — as it tries to reduce $2 billion in consumer banking expenses by the end of 2016. But the bank said it would add about 3,000 jobs in other areas this year. The new job cuts announced Tuesday are in its mortgage and retail banking businesses. The bank also cut 16,500 jobs last year in those areas. JPMorgan’s mortgage business, like that of other big banks, is declining as fewer Americans refinance their home loans. In the years following the recession, low interest rates caused a boom in mortgage refinancing. But interest rates began rising midway through 2013. —AP