First Niagara to close Syracuse mortgage-processing office, cutting 14 jobs

SYRACUSE —  First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) announced today it will close its mortgage-processing office in the Washington Station building in Syracuse, cutting 14 jobs.

The office, located at 333 W. Washington St., will shutter at the end of February. It first opened in late 2012. The work will shift to existing administrative centers located in Amherst, N.Y. and New Haven, Conn., the Buffalo–based banking company said in a news release.

The employees losing their jobs have been notified and “many will be eligible to apply for other positions within First Niagara, which is currently recruiting to fill more than 250 job openings throughout the company including approximately 25 in the Syracuse area,” the banking company said. Others will receive severance benefits, it added.

First Niagara noted that the closing of the Washington Station mortgage-processing office would not result in the layoff of employees who make mortgage loans. No layoffs are planned at its Central New York market center at 100 Clinton Square, which has about 60 employees, including administrative staff, commercial bankers, and insurance employees. First Niagara’s 49 Syracuse–area bank branches will also remain open, according to the company.

“Across the financial services industry, residential mortgage demand has slowed over the past year, and, as a result, our West Washington Street facility never had the opportunity to achieve the business volume originally envisioned,” Tom Faughnan, senior director of residential mortgage for First Niagara, said in the news release.  “Though not an easy one, the decision to consolidate our residential lending operations will improve the efficiency and productivity of our talented residential lending team… First Niagara remains fully committed to serving our customers in Syracuse, Onondaga County and the whole of Central New York…”

First Niagara employs about 400 people total in Central New York, according to the news release.

Other CNY layoffs

On Jan. 24, First Niagara confirmed that it would close one bank branch office in Owego and another in Conklin in early March.

That move is part of the banking company’s consolidation effort announced Jan. 8. First Niagara said it would eliminate up to 170 administrative positions at branches in its four-state footprint, in response to customers’ increased use of its online, mobile, and telephone-banking options.

The Owego branch, located at 18 Lake St., and the Conklin office, at 1115 Conklin Road, will shutter on March 7, according to Oliver Hays, a First Niagara spokesman. Five people work at the Owego office while three are employed in Conklin.

First Niagara will also close five branches in Pennsylvania and three in Western New York, according to Hays.

First Niagara, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., is a multi-state community-oriented bank with about 420 branches, $38 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and approximately 5,800 employees across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com