Citigroup is cutting jobs in its corporate and investment bank. Around 1,000 jobs will go, affecting 2-3 per cent of the unit’s 48,000 employees around the world.
CEO Charles Prince is looking to trim expenses as well as exit businesses not focused on consumer or corporate banking, after a year when costs rose by one-third. This marks a further shift away from Sandy Weill strategy of creating a one-stop financial supermarket.
The Citigroup cuts come amid a separate announcement on Friday that the bank is streamlining its capital markets funding business, which helps fund day-to-day operations and business growth, and simplifying its legal structure.
While profit has risen at Citigroup, expenses have also climbed. Operating expenses grew 33 per cent last year to $52 billion, while revenue rose just 11 per cent to $86.2 billion, and profit fell 5 percent to $17 billion, largely because of costs for WorldCom Inc., Enron Corp. and other litigation.
Citigroup employs 275,000 people in more than 100 countries.