Santander Bank to lay off 200 R.I. workers, will stop issuing residential mortgages

EAST PROVIDENCE – Nearly 200 workers out of Santander Bank N.A.’s East Providence’s office will be let go next month as the company stops issuing residential mortgages, according to a notice filed with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. 

The layoffs come as part of a larger plan by the Spanish banking giant to end its U.S. home loan business, spokesperson Nancy Orlando confirmed in an email on Monday.

Santander in February announced plans to stop issuing new residential mortgages and home equity loans, various news outlets have reported. The company plans to “focus on investing in products that have scale and that leverage our core strengths,” Orlando said in a statement.

As for existing borrowers, the bank will continue to service existing and pending loans for now, though that may change as it “evaluates strategic options for the remaining book of business,” Orlando said.

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The move puts about 4.5% of the bank’s 8,700-person national workforce on the chopping block, including 198 workers in Rhode Island. The layoffs in Rhode Island take effect April 8, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification submitted to DLT.

“We are fully supporting our colleagues with severance benefits, career transition services and opportunities to pursue other open roles at Santander,” Orlando said in a statement.

The bank’s physical footprint, which includes 29 branches in Rhode Island according to PBN’s 2022 book of lists, will remain unchanged, according to Orlando.

Santander in 2020 issued a round of layoffs that included 20 workers in Rhode Island due to changes in business banking, PBN reported. 

Santander Bank had the fourth-largest share of in-market deposits in Rhode Island as of June 30, 2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.