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WSFS Bank to lay off dozens at Beneficial’s Center City headquarters

The move is part of the Wilmington bank’s efforts to streamline operations at Beneficial, which it bought for $1.5 billion earlier this year.

1818 Market Street: WSFS Financial Corp. of Wilmington is letting go dozens of workers at the former Beneficial Bank headquarters as it cuts costs following its $1.5 billion acquisition of the 166-year-old Philadelphia bank.
1818 Market Street: WSFS Financial Corp. of Wilmington is letting go dozens of workers at the former Beneficial Bank headquarters as it cuts costs following its $1.5 billion acquisition of the 166-year-old Philadelphia bank.Read moreMichael Bryant

WSFS Bank has told state labor officials that it plans to lay off 71 workers at Beneficial Bank’s Philadelphia headquarters and 17 more at a regional center in Burlington City.

The move is part of the Wilmington bank’s efforts to streamline operations at Beneficial, which it bought for $1.5 billion earlier this year.

WSFS last fall said it could cut as many as 350 of the combined banks’ 2,100 positions as it shuts duplicate branches and streamlines computer systems. CEO Rodger Levenson says the bank will use some of the savings to improve its online and mobile services.

Some workers whose jobs were cut have taken open positions elsewhere in the company. The bank has also left positions unfilled through attrition, and is still taking applications for internal positions. And some workers who expected their jobs to end have quit to go elsewhere, said WSFS spokesman Jimmy Hernandez. In short, the numbers given to state labor department officials are not yet final, he added.

While Wells Fargo, PNC, Citizens, BB&T, and others have closed branches in the Philadelphia area in recent years, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and locally based Republic Bank have been opening new offices.

WSFS has told customers that it plans to shut 21 of the combined companies’ 120 local offices by the time it replaces blue Beneficial signs with green WSFS signs on Aug. 23. Hernandez said branch staff won’t be laid off, but will be able to work at nearby offices that remain open.

The branches to close include WSFS offices in Blue Bell, Broomall, Havertown, Lawrence Park, Limerick, Secane, and Springfield, Pa.; plus Beneficial branches at Broad and Porter Streets, and Holme Circle in Philadelphia; Chester Springs, Devon, East Norriton, Edgmont, Exton, Folcroft, Lansdale, and Media, Pa.; and Burlington City, Mount Laurel, Pennsauken, and Southampton, N.J.

All except Limerick and Lansdale, near the northern edge of WSFS’ new market area, are within half a mile to three miles of at least one branch that will stay open.