Setback

Citicorp is laying off 700 mortgage workers in Las Vegas. It's the latest cut to a corporate presence that once was a significant part of the state's economy and its tax base. The layoff is part of a nationwide cutback of 1,000 workers, but most of them are in Nevada. Of the remaining positions, the bulk are in Texas.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America have also made substantial layoffs of mortgage workers as the refinancing boom wound down. Citicorp is the sixth largest mortgage lender.

In 1984 Nevada Gov. Richard Bryan called a special session of the Nevada Legislature to change state banking laws in order to make it possible for Citibank to establish a credit card processing facility in Las Vegas. Bryan said at the time that association of major corporations like Citibank with Nevada helped dispel the state's unfavorable image.

After the legislature enacted the legislation demanded by the corporation, Citibank convinced postal officials to accept an address of “The Lakes, Nevada” (the name of a Las Vegas housing development) as a return address for all its credit card statements, a step seen as an effort by Citibank to disassociate itself from Las Vegas's image. Early in the current recession, the Nevada credit card operations were moved to South Dakota.