CITIGROUP implemented a fresh round of job cuts in its US investment bank last week, according to sources familiar with the matter, as the financial giant completed a planned restructuring.
Technology, media and telecom were among the coverage areas hit hardest at the Wall Street lender, with several senior bankers as well as those in more junior roles affected, the sources said. Managing directors Yaseen Choudhury and Abhi Singhal, who both belonged to the financial technology team, have left the bank, the sources said. Both joined Citigroup in 2022, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Other coverage areas where cuts occurred include equity capital markets, debt capital markets, financial sponsor coverage and clean technology banking, the sources said. Juan Carlos George, a New York-based managing director who headed up ECM for Latin America, has also left, the sources said.
A representative for Citigroup declined to comment on the matter. Choudhury, Singhal and George did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The job cuts came as Citigroup said it had concluded the “major actions” around its reorganisation plan, according to a statement last week.
Citigroup notified regulators of plans to lay off 430 people, according to filings with the New York State Department of Labor dated Apr 1. Similar notifications were made in February about 286 layoffs, filings show. New York requires employers to submit notices to the department at least 90 calendar days before mass layoffs involving 25 or more full-time employees.
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The goal of the reorganisation was to streamline the bank’s operations by eliminating 20,000 roles, chief executive officer Jane Fraser laid out at the beginning of the year. The bank had expected to finish the cuts by the end of the first quarter, Fraser said.
Banks are unwinding some of the hiring they did during the pandemic when technology deals – both mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs) – were red hot. More than US$518 billion was raised via US IPOs in 2020 and 2021. Volumes cratered in 2022 and 2023, and have only recently begun to rebound.
Earlier this month, Fraser said the plan went swifter than expected, and that the cull led to US$2.5 billion in savings. BLOOMBERG
