Citigroup’s chief executive took radical action on Monday to revive the group’s flagging share price, announcing plans to axe 52,000 jobs, or one in seven employees, and slash costs by about $10bn. The job cuts will be in addition to the 23,000 redundancies announced so far this year and will bring total staff to 300,000 – the lowest in nearly three years. The moves, unveiled by Vikram Pandit in a meeting with staff, mark a significant escalation of Citi’s efforts to deal with a crisis that has led to losses in each of the past four quarters. The group’s poor performance has raised pressure on Pandit amid simmering internal disagreements and a boardroom revolt over Citi’s failure to buy Wachovia, the US regional lender. About half the job cuts will be in businesses Citi is selling, including its German retail banking operations. The rest will fall Citi’s existing businesses, including investment banking operations in New York, London and Hong Kong, and back-office jobs. See related report here.
