Citi redundancies total 2,000 in Q3, yet tech recruitments balance the loss

Citigroup, one of the world's largest banks, has unveiled a wide-ranging plan to streamline its operations, which includes significant workforce reductions and the shedding of its retail presence in 14 international markets.

The bank has already trimmed approximately 7,000 roles this year, with an additional 1,000 positions expected to be cut by the end of the first quarter of 2024. These job cuts do not include any downsizing related to the reorganization Citi announced last month.

Citi has also made a move to simplify its management structure, aiming to strip away five of its 13 layers of management and cut 60 management committees. This restructuring is expected to free up over tens of thousands of people-hours annually.

The bank's workforce has remained steady at 240,000 for the past four quarters, due in part to hiring tech staff to modernize its data architecture and resolve two consent orders from 2020. However, the specific positions being closed at Citigroup as part of the planned workforce reductions in the fourth quarter of 2024 are not detailed in the available information.

Top managers are expected to detail their workforce-cut plans by the end of November. The bank has not announced any new hirings or investments in these sectors, nor has it mentioned any plans for purchasing licensing rights.

Citi has incurred severance charges totaling $650 million so far this year, and spent about $3 billion on technology in the third quarter of 2021. In the first half of 2023, the bank had booked severance costs for 5,000 positions.

The bank aims to realign under "single points of accountability," meaning the bank is targeting co-heads of some units. Citi intends to achieve an efficiency ratio of less than 60%, a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 11.5% to 12%, and a return on tangible common equity ratio of 11% to 12%.

The bank has identified 1,000 internal profit-and-loss reports it says it will no longer need to compile, and it has not specified any new targets or goals beyond the ones mentioned in this article. The job cuts and restructuring are expected to continue through the end of 2024's first quarter.