Citi plans 20,000 job cuts over two years

Citi plans 20,000 job cuts over two years

Citigroup plans to cut 20,000 jobs – about 10% of its global staff – over the next two years, as it pushes to streamline operations.

The reductions are part of a sweeping reorganisation announced by boss Jane Fraser last year.

The UK-born executive, who took the helm in 2021, said 2024 would be a “turning point” for the firm.

Citi has already sold off some of its overseas operations and moved to list its Mexican unit as a standalone firm.

The restructuring announced last year is aimed at eliminating layers of bureaucracy within the bank, paring back layers of regional management overseas and cutting some units.

Ms Fraser said that despite a $1.8bn (£1.4bn) loss in the last three months of 2023 – the biggest quarterly hit reported by the lender in years – the bank had made progress on its strategy.

“Given how far we are down the path of our simplification and divestures, 2024 will be a turning point,” Ms Fraser said.

Citi, which employs more than 16,000 people in the UK, declined to elaborate how many of the job losses might hit the UK or which units would be most affected.

But as the plans progress, they will sharply reduce the bank’s size.

Chief financial officer Mark Mason said the bank expected to employ about 180,000 people by 2025 or 2026, compared with about 240,000 at the start of 2023.

The bank said the reorganisation is likely to cost as much as $1bn this year alone, on top of an already announced $800m hit. It is expected to save $2.5bn annually.

Citi is among the five largest banks in the US.

It has been under pressure from investors to improve its performance. Profits lag its peers and in earlier years it has run into regulatory issues, including fines over money-laundering controls.

Citi said the loss in the most recent quarter was driven by one-off factors such as the devaluation of the Argentine peso and a special fee the government levied on US banks to shore up its deposit fund after several failures last year.

For the full year, revenue rose 4% from 2022 to $78.5bn, but profits plunged 38% to $9.2bn.

By comparison, at close rival Wells Fargo, revenue grew 11% last year to $82.5bn, and profits surged about 40%.

At JP Morgan, revenue rose 23% to more than $158bn, while profits jumped about 30%.

Citi shares slumped on Friday, down 1.4%.