DENVER—The Federal Reserve said Tuesday it plans to cut its check-processing work force by about half, elminating 1,740 jobs as it consolidates the work in four regional sites.
The cuts include 96 positions in Denver.
The bank said the cuts are needed because more people are using online bill payments, credit cards and debit cards instead of checks. The cuts are expected to begin next year and be completed by 2011.
The Federal Reserve will move all check-processing work to four regional sites: Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas and Philadelphia. Check processing is now done at all of the Federal Reserve’s 22 locations, down from 45 locations in 2003.
The bank currently has 3,300 check-processing workers and had 4,600 in 2003 before it began cutting back.
The bank has about 21,000 workers total.
Banks pay the Federal Reserve to clear checks written on accounts in other banks.
The check processing work done in Denver, part of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, will be moved to Dallas in the second quarter of 2010.
Lowell Jones, a Fed spokesman in Kansas City, said that after several years of cutting check-processing jobs, the bank wanted to come up with a longer-range plan.
According to the bank’s most recent study, 37 billion checks were used in the United States in 2003, down from 42 billion in 2001 and 50 billion in 1995.
In the announcement, the bank said some cuts would be made through attrition and some employees may be reassigned. Separation packages, career transition help, extended medical coverage and other programs will also be offered.
Denver’s office employs 230 people. Besides processing checks, it also distributes money to banks in Colorado, Wyoming and parts of New Mexico, regulates banks and performs regional economic research.
