Citigroup Inc. offered 1,350 employees at its consumer finance unit in Japan early retirement with two months’ pay as the company withdraws from the business, a proposal the workers’ union called unacceptable, Bloomberg reports.
CFJ KK, Citigroup’s local consumer finance unit, made the offer in a memo distributed to all its employees on 16 June. Citigroup’s Tokyo-based spokeswoman Atsuko Yoshitsugu declined to confirm the document, which was addressed from Masanori Hogi, CFJ’s chief administrative officer.
Citigroup, the biggest US bank by assets, will close all of its 32 consumer finance branches and 540 automated loan machines in Japan and transfer capital to more profitable areas. The New York-based firm is revising global operations after reporting losses and writedowns from the US subprime mortgage crisis totaling $42.9 billion; more than any other bank, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Employees have until 15 July to apply for the plan, according to the memo.
“CFJ ensures employees are treated fairly and made aware of the options open to them,” Citigroup’s Yoshitsugu says, declining to comment further.
Citigroup says it will close two UK loan operations, eliminating about 700 jobs, and stop offering certain home and personal loans.
The company is also shedding jobs at its investment banking business in Japan. Nikko Citigroup Ltd. will fire as many as 170 of its 1,700 employees, two Citigroup officials, who declined to be identified.