Citigroup’s announcement that it will slash 11,000 jobs worldwide underscores its major contraction since nearly collapsing during the financial crisis and its continuing battle against high operating costs and persistently sluggish markets.
The cost-cutting fervor, including tens of thousands of Wall Street jobs slashed in recent years, is expected to continue at Citigroup and other banks as they combat sagging stock prices, lackluster revenue and new regulations that damp profits.
The cuts at Citigroup, many coming from its global consumer banking business, reflect a new emphasis on aiming at commercial banking jobs, some bank analysts said, rather than mainly eliminating investment banking positions.
With pressure mounting from shareholders, Citi has been trying to bolster returns, in part by working through a glut of bad loans and systematically dismantling some businesses. The job cuts amount to 4 percent of the work force and will bring the company’s head count down to about 250,000, down by a third since before the financial crisis in 2007.