JPMorgan cuts the cord on voicemail
For JPMorgan's (JPM) retail employees, there will be no more messages after the beep.
The company's consumer banking chief told an industry conference the bank would be eliminating voicemail in an effort to cut costs. Each line costs about $10 per month, and a source tells CNBC that the unit will reap annualized cost savings of about $3.2 million.
"We realize that hardly anyone uses voicemail anymore," said Gordon Smith, CEO of JPMorgan's consumer and community banking, while speaking to an audience at the Deutsche Bank financial services conference.
"We are all carrying something in our pockets that's going to get texts or email or a phone call to you," he said.
Read More JPMorgan's Dimon to shareholders: 'You are lazy'
A bank spokeswoman noted late Tuesday that some 65 percent of consumer banking employees with voicemail elected to have the service canceled. Tellers, she added, have never traditionally had voicemail.
The savings appear relatively small compared with the grand scheme of JPMorgan's ongoing cost-cutting efforts. A February investor presentation showed the consumer and community banking unit in 2014 cut some $2.2 billion in costs and 11,600 jobs. For 2015, it's targeting an additional $2 billion in expense cuts and, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, some 5,000 jobs.
On Tuesday, Smith attributed the latest restructuring as "branch automation," which will see smarter ATMs and mobile apps replacing some functions previously done by bank tellers.
And for those retail bankers who do help you, be prepared to communicate with them by text or email. The days of leaving them a message after the tone are numbered.
More From CNBC
