U.S. Bancorp said Tuesday that it is laying off about 1 percent of its workforce company wide, according to a spokesperson.

The Minneapolis-based company, which also has corporate offices in St. Paul, employs more than 70,000 people.

Rebekah Fawcett, a U.S. Bancorp spokesperson, said in an email that the layoffs are the result of changing business needs. She declined to say how many of the layoffs were in the Twin Cities.

Chuck Fitzer, tax process director at U.S. Bancorp’s Nicollet Mall headquarters, was among those laid off Tuesday. Fitzer said he was told the layoffs affected about 1,000 people across the company and were done to improve operational efficiency.

Fitzer said the company brought efficiency experts into his offices a couple of months ago.

“We knew something was coming down,” Fitzer said. “But we didn’t know what shape it would take.”

He said one other person in his department was also laid off.

Fawcett noted that U.S. Bancorp also has added about 2,000 jobs companywide over the past year.