NORSTAR BANK LAYS OFF 20; CUTS 100 JOBS.(Business)

Byline: Mark S.R. Suchecki Business writer

About 100 positions have been eliminated and 20 employees laid off at Albany-based Norstar Bank of Upstate as a result of a corporate-wide cost-cutting effort, company officials said Thursday.

Details of the cutbacks were released just one day after formal ceremonies at Fleet/Norstar Financial Group Inc.'s plush headquarters in Albany honored the late Peter D. Kiernan, former chairman of the banking company and establishiment of a $525,000 endowment fund by the bank for scholarships.

Norstar Bank of Upstate NY serves Albany, Utica and Newburgh.

The cutbacks in New York resulted from a streamlining of operations throughout the Fleet/Norstar Financial Group Inc., which will trim about 1,000 of some …