NY Community Bancorp lays off workers

New York Community Bancorp Inc., a major Long Island banking company, said it laid off an undisclosed number of employees this week.

The bank acknowledged the cuts when asked, but it declined to specify the number of people let go or where they worked.

Spokeswoman Mary Beth Kissane said in response to media queries, "From time to time we eliminate positions that are no longer necessary because of changes in technology, work flow and the way customers do their banking."

The company, based in Westbury, employs 3,883 people nationally, according to various business references.

Bernardo Sanchez, 44, of Rocky Point, who said he was assistant manager of a branch in Smithtown, said he and about 30 other Suffolk County workers were told at an emotional meeting Thursday in Islandia that their jobs were being eliminated. "There was no warning whatsoever," he said, and a lot of the female employees "were sobbing."

The company has two banking subsidiaries: New York Community Bank, with 241 branches in the New York metropolitan area, Ohio, Florida, and Arizona; and New York Commercial Bank, with 34 branches serving customers in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island and Westchester County.

New York Community Bank has seven local divisions: Queens County Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, Roosevelt Savings Bank and others in other states. The Commercial Bank operates 17 of its branches as Atlantic Bank.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. is scheduled to announce earnings Wednesday for the third quarter. In July the company reported that second quarter profits fell by 9 percent, to $119.5 million or 27 cents a share, missing analyst consensus estimates, as income from mortgages fell in a weak market and government insurance premiums rose.

The company's first quarter earnings also fell from a year earlier and missed analysts' estimates.

The company's stock has fallen in value by 33 percent this year, from $18.97 a share Jan. 3 to a close of $12.71 on Friday.