Citigroup’s new chief executive has wasted little time putting his stamp on the US bank by axing 11,000 jobs, adding to a wave of staff reductions across the financial services industry.
Michael Corbat, who took the helm less than two months ago and known for his focus on costs, announced a raft of cutbacks in the bank’s emerging markets consumer business, global retail operations, investment bank and support functions.
Its consumer banking operations will bear the brunt of the cuts in what one Citi banker described as “taking low-hanging fruit”, given its lack of scale in the five markets – from Turkey to Uruguay – where it will either sell or shrink those units.