“Tough decisions here,” Citigroup CEO cuts top jobs. 

On the day after Barclays announced 450 job cuts, one of the major Wall Street banks also said it would be trimming its staff.

Citigroup is planning to strip out layers of management in its top echelons. It will mean a cut in jobs as part of a radical shake-up by chief executive Jane Fraser.

Layers of management to go in job cuts

The Wall Street outfit plans to cut out layers in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.  

Whichever way you try to slice it or dice it, this all points to a fresh round of job cuts..

“We have taken hard, consequential, tough decisions here,” Fraser told an industry conference.

“It’s going to make some of our people very uncomfortable.”

 “They are not going to be universally popular within our banks. It’s going to make some of our people very uncomfortable. I’m absolutely fine with that. I’m confident that our strongest performers will be fully supportive of these moves.”

Fraser added that the bank would be “getting rid of most of the co-heads” at Citigroup. Its dealmaking unit has a number of co-heads including Manolo Falco and Tyler Dickson, who run the unit globally and Emea co-heads, Nacho Gutiérrez-Orrantia and Jens Welter.

Peter Babej, who had led Citigroup’s operations in Asia, has been head of its banking business on a temporary basis. This means Citi is currently searching for a head of the unit that houses its investment bank.

A move in Europe. 

In Europe, this means that regional chief executive David Livingstone is moving to a new role, becoming chief client officer in a new unit called ‘client.’ This will focus on “strengthening client engagement and experience across the bank’s global network and businesses”. Ernesto Torres Cantú, who was previously CEO of its Latin America business, will take over all of its international operations. 

Meanwhile: 450 Barclays job cuts

Meanwhile the union Unite, said this week it would fight the 450 Barclays job cuts.

Unite branded the Barclays decision  “unnecessary and unjustified.” 

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “How can a profitable finance organisation such as Barclays slash over 450 staff amid a cost-of-living crisis? This isn’t an organisation struggling to survive, this bank is making billions of pounds of profits. If these plans for compulsory redundancy are implemented then hundreds of families will lose their livelihoods and face financial hardship because of a management decision which is both unnecessary and unjustified.”