Bloomberg broke the story that Bear Stearns is reducing staffing levels as part of what it called “the normal course of business.” The story sourced someone inside the company who said that the layoffs impacted 240 people across Irvine, Calif.-based Encore Credit and Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage. From the Bloomberg story:

Encore Credit, based in Irvine, California, is eliminating 100 positions, and the Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. division in Scottsdale, Arizona, is reducing its workforce by 140, said the person, who declined to be identified because the number of jobs isn’t being released publicly. “In the normal course of business Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. and Encore Credit evaluate market conditions and staffing levels in an effort to identify areas where we can eliminate redundancies and improve the efficiency of our operations,” the New York-based firm said in an e-mailed statement today. “As a result we have made the decision to reduce our staffing levels and close two operation centers.” The statement didn’t include the number of jobs that were cut, and a Bear Stearns spokeswoman, Renu Aldrich, declined to elaborate.