“Some roles will change, new roles may be created, and roles that do not fit our new structure will be eliminated,” the bank’s top human resources officer, Sara Wechter, wrote in a memo. “This next layer of change is scheduled to be announced in November.”
Employees who lose their employment may be able to apply for new opportunities, and the corporation will provide severance pay and notice periods where appropriate, according to the message. The memo’s contents have not before been reported.
Citi did not respond to a request for comment on the global memo.
According to two persons familiar with the situation, Citigroup also had a meeting of its managing directors on Wednesday. According to one source, executives addressed the actions described in Wechter’s memo.
According to the source, bankers were given 15 minutes’ notice of the meeting, which lasted only 30 minutes.
Citigroup likewise declined to comment on the meeting of the managing directors.
Citi CEO Jane Fraser unveiled a massive restructuring last month to simplify the bank’s structure after divesting from non-core markets and focusing on profitable sectors. Fraser’s memo to employees did not specify the amount of job cutbacks envisaged, but stated that the departures will allow revenue generators and dealmakers to devote more time to clients.
“We’ll be saying goodbye to some very talented and hard-working colleagues,” Fraser wrote at the time.
At the end of the second quarter, Citi had 240,000 employees. This compares to over 216,000 employees at Bank of America and 234,000 at Wells Fargo, the second and fourth-largest lenders in the United States, respectively.
Fraser’s message to employees has become increasingly stern. “We don’t have room for bystanders, we don’t have room for people who want to stand on the sidelines,” she declared last week in a television interview.
CONSULTATIONS IN THE UK
Following an earlier warning to workers about impending layoffs, the bank is now undertaking the necessary consultations in the UK.
“We are updating colleagues on our next steps to align our structure with our strategy, and consulting with the London Consultation Forum about roles currently under review, some of these roles may change, while others will remain largely the same,” the bank stated in a statement on Wednesday.
Citi expects that the changes would boost its share price, which has trailed behind peers, and give the CEO more direct control over the company’s operations.
According to Reuters, the layoffs will target support departments with overlapping personnel, such as compliance and risk management, as well as spare profit-making units.
On October 13, Citigroup will release third-quarter profits. Net profits fell 36% to $2.92 billion in the second quarter, above expert estimates.