Citigroup To Keep The Layoffs Coming Next Year

Author:: Bess Levin
Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Dec 6, 2011

Last month, Citigroup announced that it was mulling over the idea of relieving 3,000 employees of their commitments to the firm. A couple weeks later, it decided that yes, that sounded like a good idea, and began giving people the signal. Perhaps to a) send a message that no one should get comfortable yet and b) make it clear to existing staff holding out hope that it was true their direct report just ran out for a pack of smokes and would be "back in 10" that no, Daddy's not coming home, Uncle Vik announced today:

...the bank will cut about 4,500 jobs in coming quarters as Pandit seeks to trim costs amid slumping revenue. Citigroup will take a charge of about $400 million in the fourth quarter tied to the reductions, including severance, Pandit, 54, said today during an investor conference in New York. Citigroup, the third-biggest U.S. lender by assets, employed about 267,000 people at the end of the third quarter, according to a quarterly filing.

Citigroup Plans to Cut 4,500 Jobs [Bloomberg]

As promised, new CEO Mike Corbat will be firing a few thousand people as part of the bank's weight reduction program.

The House Of Corbat is preparing to say some tough goodbyes.

Back in October, new Citi CEO Mike Corbat's personal trainer predicted that Vikram Pandit's replacement would waste no time whipping the place into shape, just like he whipped himself into shape in 2010 with the fat-torching Spartacus Workout. Whereas someone else might've let the bank have until the new year to get serious, allowing for one last season of pigs in a blanket and egg nog and late night pizza and entire gingerbread houses, Citi's day's of "I'll start the diet tomorrow" are over. Corbat's transformation plan starts TODAY.

Cuts are said to have gone down in Asia.

Cuts are said to be going down at the House of Corbat.

For those worried they'd fallen behind.

Just because they unceremoniously threw him out on his ass doesn't mean the board wants to see Vikram go home empty handed. Vikram Pandit, Citigroup' ousted chief executive officer, will get about $6.7 million in 2012 compensation and will forfeit some awards tied to a $40 million retention package granted last year. John Havens, who resigned last month as Citigroup’s chief operating officer on the same day as Pandit, will get about $6.8 million for 2012 and also forfeit some awards, the New York-based lender said today in a regulatory filing. Citigroup is the third-largest U.S. bank by assets. “Based on the progress this year through the date of separation, the board determined that an incentive award for their work in 2012 was appropriate and equitable,” Chairman Michael E. O’Neill said in the filing. “While Citi will also honor all past awards that they are legally entitled to, there are no severance payments. Awards to which they are not legally entitled have been forfeited.” Citigroup's Pandit $6.7 Million Compensation For 2012 [Bloomberg]

According to Dick Parsons, who stepped down as chairman of Citi in March because Mike Mayo told him to, last week's news that Pandit had left the building for good was "somewhat" surprising, while at the same time, sort of expected, because whipping morbidly obese companies into shape just really isn't Vikram's thing. “You need seasoned, honed managers who can cause a 250,000, 300,000-personnel organization to march” with direction, Parsons said in a weekend interview at his Tuscan vineyard in Montalcino, Italy. “Vikram will tell you, ‘That’s not my bag.’” Pandit, 55, produced “every good idea that we had” to prevent Citigroup’s collapse during the financial crisis, Parsons said. New CEO Michael Corbat, 52, who previously ran the Citi Holdings unit, is well-equipped to lead the firm as it cuts costs and sells unwanted assets, the ex-chairman said. “Mike Corbat, who I knew back in the day when he ran the Holdings operation, is just that kind of man,” said Parsons, 64, adding that he was “somewhat” surprised by the timing of Pandit’s exit. “The transition and change was, in the long term, not inevitable but appropriate.” Anyway, who wants wine? Parsons, visiting his Il Palazzone vineyard to inaugurate a cellar, said regulatory pressures will still be a challenge for the new management team. “Externally, it’s still going to be tough,” said Parsons, sipping a glass of his 2004 Brunello Riserva as he sat outside a stone house set on an ancient trail from Frankfurt to Rome. “To some extent, the regulatory/political community is still almost at war with the big banks.” Nelson Rockefeller introduced Parsons to fine wines. He plans to turn the hobby into a profitable business by doubling production of red wines that retail in the U.S. for as much as $130 a bottle. Parsons Sipping Red Wine Calls Pandit Exit ‘Appropriate’ [Bloomberg] Earlier: Vikram Pandit And Citigroup Not Yet On Same Page Re: Who Dumped Whom; Zen Gardens That Never Were: Vikram Pandit Doesn’t Have To Put Up With This Shit Anymore