Citigroup to cut 20,000 jobs over the next two years to boost returns

Citigroup will cut 20,000 jobs over the next two years, its Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said on Friday, after the bank reported a $1.8 billion loss for the fourth quarter. Citi’s revenue fell 3 per cent to $17.4 billion in the December quarter from a year earlier.
 

The lender, which currently has 239,000 employees worldwide, will reduce that headcount by 20,000 as part of a sweeping reorganisation, Mason told reporters.
 

Citi also expects to shed a further 40,000 jobs when it lists its Mexican consumer unit Banamex in an initial public offering. It ultimately aims to reach a staffing level of 180,000 employees, Mason said. Job cuts are “tough on morale”, Mason said. But he added that the reduction will not prevent revenue growth and said reorganisation efforts will be done by the end of the first quarter.
 

Fraser has rolled out a multi-year effort at the third-largest US lender by assets to cut bureaucracy, increase profits and boost a stock that has lagged peers.
 

Big US banks’ profits fall
 

Major US banks’ fourth-quarter profits fell on Friday as lenders put aside cash to replenish a government insurance fund dented by last year’s bank failures, and as the rising cost of retaining deposits ate into margins. Profits at JPMorgan Chase fell in the fourth quarter, but it posted a record annual profit of $49.6 billion and net interest income (NII) was up 19 per cent. Bank of America’s profit shrank on the DIF charge and a 5 per cent decline in its NII. Wells Fargo was the only big lender to post a jump in profits.

Audible cuts 5% of staff; Pixar to undergo layoffs

Amazon-owned online audiobook and podcast service Audible is laying off about 5 per cent of its workforce, marking the third round of job cuts at the it’s businesses this week as the technology industry continues to shed roles in the new year.
 

Moreover, Walt Disney's Pixar Animation Studios is also set to cut jobs as the studio has completed production on some shows and now has more staff than it needs, a source told Reuters.