Wells Fargo could become largest employer bank

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance.

Wells Fargo could become largest employer. With the news last night that Bank of America has set a target of getting its employee count down to 260,000 by years end, Wells Fargo could become the largest U.S. bank by number of employees, The Wall Street Journal says this morning. The San Francisco bank had 265,000 employees at the end of the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are very close behind, each with more than 260,000.

Pawlenty to lead bank lobby. Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota and brief candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, will be the next CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, one of the banking industry's primary lobbying organizations, Politico reports. The move, expected to be announced Thursday, would give the group more influence in Washington.

Finance group raises cyber threat level. A financial web security organization has raised its warning level and posted a warning on its website about increased risk of cyber attacks, Reuters reports. It came a day after Bank of America had issues with its site, as well as JPMorgan Chase.

Banks could lose another $25 billion in suits. Bondholder suits seeking to force banks to buy back mortgages that went sour could force big banks to set aside another $25 billion, a research organization calculated, according to Bloomberg. More lawsuits are being filed as legal deadlines approach. Most of the work still to be done, the research firm said, is in the private market since issues with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have largely been reserved for.