JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, said Tuesday it will lay off as many as 19,000 employees, most in its consumer banking division, in a bid to reduce expenses by around $1 billion, Bloomberg News said.

The number of employees in its mortgage business will shrink by 13,000 to 15,000 through 2014, while its community banking operations will shrink by 3,000 to 4,000.

As many as 4,000 of the cuts will come this year, the bank said.