Fifth Third Bank to lay off nearly 500 in Chicago area

Fifth Third Bank intends to lay off nearly 500 people now that it has taken over MB Financial.

Most of the 493 jobs being eliminated are in Rosemont; about two dozen positions are being cut downtown, according to layoff notices filed with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The layoffs will happen by May.

Fifth Third told Crain’s the cuts were mostly redundant administrative and back-office jobs.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third announced in May it would buy Chicago’s MB Financial for about $4.7 billion, mostly in stock.

MB Financial had about $20 billion in assets at the time the sale was announced.