Wells Fargo Will Shut Unit, Lay off 330 Out of State

Wells Fargo will close an Arizona-based residential loan subsidiary and lay off 330 people in five cities outside California.

The San Francisco-based banking company is closing Wells Fargo Credit Corp. to continue focusing on its California market, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. The subsidiary has about $1.4 billion in assets, which will be absorbed by the parent company.

The people who are being laid off work at the subsidiary’s headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., and at regional offices in Phoenix, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago. Six to eight salespeople in California will be transferred to the parent company, the spokeswoman said.

Wells Fargo Credit was set up 11 years ago to make mortgage loans outside California. The layoffs will begin in mid-May and the subsidiary is to be closed in August.