Citi initiates restructuring with significant job cuts

Citigroup has embarked on a major restructuring process, affecting numerous employees at the start of Thanksgiving week. The bank, following months of planning, is set to implement a series of job cuts as part of what it is calling “a strategic realignment.”

This realignment involves reshuffling teams, dismantling an international management layer and instead focusing on five key businesses: trading, banking, services, wealth management and U.S. consumer offerings. The initial phase of the restructuring will see the termination of more than 300 senior manager roles, according to Bloomberg — about 10% of workers at that level. Further reductions at lower levels are expected, which could affect thousands of additional staff members, with the objective of completing the process by the end of the first quarter.

"The actions we're taking to reorganize the firm involve some difficult, consequential decisions, but we believe they are the right steps to align our structure with our strategy," CEO Jane Fraser said in a statement.

A memo from Fraser to staff on Monday detailed the impending organizational changes, outlining the bank's strategic direction and the rationale behind the restructuring.

“The challenges confronting us can sometimes be what dominates the discussion about Citi,” the memo read, “but it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the goals we’re working to achieve and the progress under way.”

The bank's decision to undertake such substantial job cuts reflects a broader trend in the financial industry to streamline operations and adapt to changing market conditions. Citibank had already announced that it wanted to strip out layers of management, reducing 13 levels to just 8.

"We have taken hard, consequential, tough decisions here," Fraser said at the time. "They are not going to be universally popular within our bank. It's going to make some of our people very uncomfortable. I am absolutely fine with that ... It is absolutely the right thing to do for our shareholders."

For many Citigroup employees, this Thanksgiving week marks a period of uncertainty and change as the bank navigates through its organizational restructuring.