Smith Barney has begun the job of consolidating some branch offices, as part of a larger cost-cutting program in the works at parent Citigroup, Registered reports.
Sources close to the firm say Citi’s retail broker/dealer arm has closed 5 satellite branches outright in Georgia and Florida, and plans to combine 40 branch offices into others. Branches will be consolidated all over the US, but the majority of these consolidations will be concentrated in the Southeast. About 30 financial advisers will depart for sure, out of a total at Smith Barney of 13,100, and 80 Smith Barney employees.
Smith Barney declined to comment on where specific offices to be consolidated are located, nor when that consolidation would begin, but said in a statement: “Smith Barney has strategic real estate plans to consolidate our presence in key markets where we have attractive and available space, and to close a handful of small satellites in markets that are not core to our strategy.”
The firm announced its plans to close some branch offices on April 11, as part of a Citigroup-wide initiative to eliminate layers of management, and consolidate office and corporate functions, among other structural changes.
In all, Citigroup will move over 9,500 jobs to lower cost locations in the US and abroad, and eliminate 17,000 jobs world-wide, with about two-thirds through attrition, Citi said.