Citigroup to lay off less than 1% of staff

Citigroup Inc is laying off less than 1% of its workforce, excluding its remediation team working on a consent order, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

A Bloomberg News report earlier in the day said that the Wall Street bank was cutting hundreds of jobs across the company, including its investment banking division.

The bank declined to comment to a Reuters request.

Citigroup's remediation team works on a 2020 consent order issued by regulators requiring it to improve its risk management and internal controls, following which it has invested heavily in addressing the issues.

Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said in a January earnings briefing that "we're actively hiring to execute against our strategy. But we're also repacing where that makes sense in light of the environment that we're in."

The latest move comes after other major Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley cut thousands of jobs after a tough year for dealmaking activity, as recessionary fears from the US Federal Reserve's stringent monetary policy weighed on investor sentiment and valuations.

As of its fourth quarter in 2022, Citigroup reported a workforce of 240,000 employees.