SINGAPORE: Citigroup’s workforce in Singapore has decreased by 500 people.
Last October, the US investment bank and financial services company employed 8,500 full-time and contract staff, which has now been reduced to 8,000.
This comes amidst the multinational finance firm’s restructuring efforts across the globe, according to a Monday morning (Jul 8) report in The Straits Times (ST).
ST added that to streamline operations, management layers and other roles focused on Asia Pacific have been removed.
However, a number of the staff have been transferred to a new global division overseeing Citi’s business outside North America.
“Management layers are fewer, decision-making is faster, and the governance across the firm becomes much simpler,” Tibor Pandi, Singapore Citi’s country officer, told ST, adding that the company’s operations are still among its biggest.
Significantly, he also said that Citi Singapore intends to bring on board additional personnel to work in its wealth division and commercial bankers who would take care of companies growing their operations in Asia Pacific.
In January, as part of the company’s reorganisation efforts, Citigroup retrenched more people in leadership. Market, risk, and investment banking managers were informed of their impending dismissals.
Several of the managers who were told they were being laid off were informed that their positions would no longer exist after the end of January.
The CEO of Citigroup, Jane Fraser, is said to have held a conference call with the company’s managing directors to discuss an overhaul that Reuters characterised as “sweeping”.
On Jan 12, the bank said it would cut 20,000 jobs over the next two years. The last quarter of 2023 had been a “disappointing” one for Citibank, which saw losses of US$1.8 billion (S$2.41 billion).
Ms Fraser told analysts, “The fourth quarter was very clearly disappointing. We know that 2024 is critical.”
At the time, Citigroup’s workforce around the globe totalled 239,000, and the banking giant planned to reduce this by around 8 per cent, or 20,000 jobs, from 2024 to 2026.
Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason has told the press that the bank hopes to cut its staff to 180,000 once Banamex, Citigroup’s Mexican consumer unit, is spun off and listed in an eventual initial public offering.
Ms Fraser allegedly said 5,000 employees would be culled from selling businesses, with another 5,000 workers dismissed in the reorganization.
The other 10,000 staff will be dismissed from support functions, including technology and operations.
/TISG
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