Wells Fargo eliminates 2,300 mortgage jobs

Scott Eelis | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Pedestrians pass in front of a Wells Fargo & Co. bank branch in New York

Wells Fargo is cutting 2,300 jobs from in the mortgage production unit, the company said on Wednesday.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo was the largest employer among U.S. banks at midyear with about 274,000 people. That figure jumped 4 percent from the previous year and was little changed from end of the first quarter.

The latest round of cuts brings the total number of jobs cut by the country's largest mortgage lender to 3,000 since July.

The company expects the pace of mortgage lending to slow for the remainder of the year as higher interest rates cut into the demand for refinancing.

Applications for U.S. home loans fell for a second straight week as higher interest rates reduced refinancing activity, an industry group reported Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 4.6 percent in the week ended Aug. 16.

The decline came as 30-year mortgage rates rose 12 basis points to 4.68 percent, matching the year's high first hit in July.

—Reuters contributed to this report