Citigroup Plans to Cut 20,000 Jobs

Citigroup plans to eliminate some 20,000 jobs by the end of 2026, marking the next phase of the bank’s most dramatic restructuring plan in decades. 

The cuts will trim about 10% of Citi’s head count, which totaled 200,000 in December excluding the staff employed by a Mexico business that is being spun off. Citi detailed its cost-cutting plans on Friday, when it also announced a fourth-quarter loss. 

Citi Chief Executive Jane Fraser took over the bank in 2021 with a mandate to streamline and simplify what was once the world’s largest financial-services firm. Its supermarket of financial products and far-flung international operations, once hailed as the hallmarks of a unique franchise, now add up to a bank worth significantly less than many of its closest peers. 

“Every bank is a function of what they’ve become over the past 30 to 40 years—it doesn’t change overnight,” Ken Usdin, a Jefferies analyst who has a “hold” rating on Citi shares, said before the results were announced. “They’re in the midst of a multiyear plan to streamline the strategy, focus on strengths, take out layers of excess staff, and directionally improve.