USAA Bank lays off employees again with the aim of “returning to profitability”
USAA confirmed that there was a second wave of layoffs this year, five months after the company had already laid off 220 employees.
A company spokesman declined to say how many employees would be affected by this round of cuts or which areas of the company they would come from.
But a “near-transcript” of a Wednesday morning staff meeting obtained by The San Antonio Report suggests the layoffs will take place at USAA Federal Savings Bank and will affect several teams, including first line risk, credit risk, data analytics, banking operations and consumer lending.
“We are not in a sustainable position,” employees were told by Michael Moran, the bank’s interim president, according to screenshots of the meeting minutes and an employee present. The layoffs, Moran said, were to “get back to profitability and manage our risks well.”
Moran declined to confirm how many people would be laid off, saying the bank’s expenses continue to exceed its revenues.
Employees had a lot of questions, including whether there would be more layoffs. Moran said no further cuts are currently planned, but he encouraged employees to “invest time in personal development to put yourself in the best position possible with the skills you need to be indispensable to the company and serve our members.”
He urged employees to adopt an “ownership mentality” in managing expenses and driving improvements.
The bank has struggled in recent years. According to the San Antonio Express-News, the bank posted losses of $710 million in 2020 and 2021. That same year, the bank was fined $140 million for “willful” violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and its regulations.
Since 2022, when the financial services and insurance giant suffered its first loss in corporate history, USAA has laid off more than 1,200 employees. At least two of those rounds of layoffs were among bank employees.
“We regularly evaluate our processes and adjust them to serve our members more efficiently,” spokesman Roger Wildermuth said in a statement released Tuesday.
Regarding the layoff of 220 employees in April, Wildermuth said at the time that the company was “making the necessary adjustments to run a healthy business and provide members with exceptional service and competitive pricing.”
USAA “continues to hire across the company to meet changing business needs,” Wildermuth said, noting that USAA has “filled 8,300 positions so far this year.”
That’s the figure employees cited Wednesday when they complained they learned about the cuts from local media before hearing about them from management. The layoffs were first reported on mysa.com.
Moran said about 500 company executives were informed of the layoffs on Tuesday, and employees will be informed directly on Wednesday morning. He called it “unfortunate” that the media published reports shortly after those briefings.
When asked why USAA could not simply cover the bank’s losses, Moran said the bank is “110 percent supported” by USAA, but it is the responsibility of the bank’s leadership team and employees to generate earnings and be profitable.
Despite the 8,300 new hires, USAA’s total workforce nationwide remains unchanged at around 37,000 employees. Around 19,000 of these employees work in San Antonio.
In August, CEO Wayne Peacock announced that he would step down from his position, which he has held since 2019, in mid-2025. The board is looking internally and externally for a successor for him.
As the first civilian to lead the organization, Peacock steered USAA through the pandemic, the first loss in its 102-year history and a return to profitability in 2023.
USAA, which serves more than 13.5 million members, said it has suffered in recent years from inflation, high interest rates, uncertainty related to global conflicts and a higher-than-average number of severe weather events, prompting the company to raise its auto and home insurance premiums last year.
