First Niagara to cut 170 administrative jobs in new branch model

First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) today announced it is eliminating up to 170 administrative positions at branch offices in its four-state footprint, in response to customers’ increased use of its online, mobile, and telephone-banking options.

The job cuts will include two positions in the Syracuse area, a First Niagara spokesman said in an email message.

The banking company is seeking to “further tailor its retail banking staffing and in-branch experience to match evolving customer preferences,” First Niagara said in a news release.

First Niagara is finding that the amount of customers visiting its branches is declining as consumers use “alternative delivery channels” such as online and mobile banking.

More than 140,000 users signed up for First Niagara’s mobile-banking application in its first year and more than 40 percent of the company’s approximately 1 million customers are registered online-banking users. Usage of telephone banking services and ATM networks also continues to grow.

In adjusting to the reduced in-branch customer numbers, First Niagara said it has implemented a customer-care representative (a universal banker) model to change the way it staffs its branches.

Under this model, more of the company’s in-branch employees are able to serve a broader set of customer needs, First Niagara said.

The banking company has recently promoted more than 200 of its branch employees to positions that “broaden their responsibilities and grow their careers.”

The promotions include eight employees in the Syracuse area, the spokesman said.

The banking company is moving administrative duties out of the branches and focusing on enhancing in-branch customer-facing interactions. 

First Niagara has notified all of the affected employees, many of whom are eligible to apply for other positions within First Niagara, the company said.

First Niagara is currently recruiting to fill more than 250 job openings throughout the corporation. 

The banking company will also provide severance benefits to those affected employees who accept the payments.

At the same time, First Niagara said it is increasing its investment in its online, mobile, and telephone-banking capabilities for retail and small-business customers.

Technology is changing how people bank and First Niagara is “evolving” in how it operates its branches and “further enhancing” the company’s online, mobile, and telephone-banking services, Mark Rendulic, executive vice president of retail banking at First Niagara, said in the news release. 

“Today, a majority of consumers prefer online, mobile and telephone banking for simple transactions or questions, and branches for more complex transactions. Customers can count on First Niagara to provide them with the ability to bank when, where and how they find most convenient,” Rendulic said.

Buffalo–based First Niagara Financial Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., operates about 420 branches, and has $37 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and about 6,000 employees in its footprint that includes New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com