by wildcherry on Monday, November 17th, 2008 | News, World

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) – Citigroup Inc., the fourth-biggest U.S. bank by market value, plans to eliminate more than 50,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of the workforce, and cut expenses by 20 percent from their peak as the global economy contracts.

Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit already reduced headcount this year by 23,000 through job cuts and the sale of business units, leaving the New York-based bank with 352,000 employees as of Sept. 30. The company plans to winnow that down to about 300,000 in the “near term,” according to a presentation on the firm’s Web site. Pandit, 51, was scheduled to announce the plan to employees today.

The company aims to lower annual expenses to about $50 billion in 2009, according to the presentation. Expenses in the past four quarters totaled $62 billion.

Citigroup slumped 19 percent in New York trading last week and is down 68 percent this year, after four straight quarterly losses totaling $20 billion. The shares declined 1.8 percent to $9.35 in trading today before markets opened in New York.

Banks and brokerages worldwide have shed almost 160,000 jobs since the subprime mortgage market collapsed last year, sparking a credit crisis.

By Zachary R. Mider and Bradley Keoun
Other Source:Cnn,CBS,Newsweek,Reuters.

Tags: bloomberg, citigroup layoff, citigroup mass layoff