Chase to Relocate 3,500 N.Y. Workers To Centers in Tex., Fla., and

Chase Manhattan Corp. said Thursday it will relocate 10% of its New York City workforce, or 3,500 employees, to new or existing operating centers in Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts.

The moves, which affect employees in Chase's treasury services and securities processing units, are to begin next year and will continue through the end of 2003, according to an internal memorandum circulated at the bank Thursday.

A spokesman for the $356 billion-asset bank said the cost savings would be "significant," but he would not elaborate. The memo said the relocations would also "reduce operating risk by diversifying our technology-intensive sites."

Chase has 34,300 employees in New York and surrounding areas -- 45% of its total workforce -- but it has recently been moving businesses out of the region, which is considered a relatively high-cost place to do business.

In June, the bank said it would move or eliminate 2,000 jobs at its back office center in Jericho, N.Y., including the relocation of 900 positions to a new call center currently under construction in Arlington, Tex. In August, Chase relocated its New York-based equity fund management business to an existing location in Houston, eliminating 32 jobs in New York.

"Chase continually reviews where we might best take advantage of business opportunities," said the memo, which was signed by Lori Hricik, executive vice president in charge of Chase Treasury Solutions, and Thompson M. Swayne, executive vice president in charge of Global Investor Services.

The memo said jobs in Global Investor Services, the bank's securities processing and custody unit, will be moved to a new facility in Dallas. Jobs in Chase Technology Solutions, a unit that provides cash management, trade finance, and other technology services, will be moved to Dallas, Tampa, and Lowell, Mass.

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