JPMorgan Chase, which has about 300,000 staff globally, will announce about 500 job cuts this week, which will include the removal of roles in the technology and operations departments.

According a Reuters report, quoting CNBC, the cuts will affect the bank’s main business of consumer and commercial banking as well as asset and wealth management. The bank has not commented.

JPMorgan is currently growing its consumer digital bank in the UK. In late 2021, the bank announced it had recruited 400 people to work at the new digital bank, known as Chase UK.

Last week, JPMorgan said the app-based bank has already amassed 1.6 million customers and a total of £15bn in deposits.

Chase UK, which is based in Canary Wharf in London, plans to broaden its financial product offering via the app. For example, the bank acquired UK online investment firm Nutmeg in 2021, and hopes to integrate its investment products into its app along with other services.

The current global economic slowdown is affecting the finance sector, with job cuts in the traditional financial services as well as the fast-growing fintech sector.

In February PayPal, one of the darlings of the global said fintech, said it was cutting 2,000 jobs – about 7% of staff – amid challenging economic conditions.

Companies such as PayPal are having to react to the current economic climate, which is squeezing consumers and businesses alike. The underlying economic conditions, including high interest rates, make fintechs focused on lending vulnerable to reduced demand.

Recent cuts include UK payments infrastructure financial technology firm Paddle, which has reduced its workforce of more than 350 by 8% as a boost to its business during the Covid-19 pandemic, comes to an end.

Also this year, fintech firm LendingClub also announced cuts, with 14% of its workforce set to go as high interest rates stifle demand for its lending services.

Read the full report here