Citigroup To CUT Another 53,000 Jobs !!!

by **J The Kidd** Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:36 pm

NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc. is shedding approximately 53,000 more
employees in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to
steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The New York-based bank, which has already reduced its assets by about
20 percent since the first quarter of the year, also plans to trim
expenses by 19 percent in 2009 from third-quarter levels, to $50
billion.

The plans, posted on the company's Web site, were discussed by CEO
Vikram Pandit at the company's town hall meeting in New York Monday
with employees.

The company said it is shrinking its work force by 20 percent from its
2007 peak of 375,000. The company had already announced in October that
it was eliminating about 22,000 jobs from that level.

About half of the expected work force reductions will come from
business sales; Citigroup already announced that it was selling Citi
Global Services and its German retail banking business, accounting for
about 18,000 jobs. Citi is planning to sell other businesses, too, but
has not announced them yet, a spokesman said.

The other half of the work force reductions will come from layoffs and attrition, the spokesman said.

The New York-based bank has posted four straight quarterly losses, including a loss of $2.8 billion during the third quarter.

In an effort to instill confidence in the company, Citigroup emphasized
in its presentation Monday that its Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of
financial strength, is 10.4 percent after a $25 billion investment from
the government — part of the $700 billion financial rescue package
passed by Congress last month. That ratio is higher than peers Bank of
America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co., after their purchases of
Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Corp., respectively.

Citigroup also stressed that it has doubled reserves in a year to $24
billion; that its revenues are stable; and that Citigroup has lower
exposure to U.S. consumer mortgages than JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank
of America and Wells Fargo.

But the announcements were not met with enthusiasm from investors. Citi
shares fell 46 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $9.06 in morning trading. The
company's shares have been trading at 13-year lows.

Shortly before the town hall meeting in New York, Citigroup Chairman
Win Bischoff said at a business forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
that it would be irresponsible for Citi and other companies not to look
at staffing in the event of a prolonged economic downturn.

"What all of us have done — and perhaps injudiciously — we've added a
lot of people over ... this very benign period," Bischoff said.

"If there is a reversion to the mean ... those job losses will
obviously fall particularly heavily on the financial sector," he added.
"Certainly they will fall particularly heavily on London and New York."

A Citigroup spokesman said that while certain regions and businesses
might have higher concentrations of job cuts, they would generally be
across the entire company and around the world.

In his comments to The Associated Press, Bischoff did not rule out the
likelihood that Citi's leaders would go without bonuses this year — a
move that would effectively amount to a substantial pay cut for the
company's executives.

"Watch this space," he said when asked about lost bonuses.

On Sunday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said seven top executives,
including Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, opted out of receiving cash
or stock bonuses for 2008 amid the ongoing credit crisis.