London job losses expected at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs

by Gill Montia

Story link: London job losses expected at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have embarked on further rounds of job cuts.

Both banks are reducing headcounts globally and jobs in the City are under threat with staff cuts of up to 10% expected in some areas of the business.

In the case of Goldman Sachs, the latest job losses will be in addition to the 5% reduction in staff numbers already announced for its least profitable units.

Meanwhile, Citigroup is reported to be reducing the number of its investment banking employees by 6,500 worldwide.

In 2007, the bank cut 21,000 jobs in a move that was followed by a further 9,000 job losses in April.

In the first quarter of this year, the group wrote down £7.7 billion in sub-prime and other debt and further losses are forecast for the three months to the end of June.

Both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are likely to be looking to their mergers and acquisitions divisions to make savings because business in these areas has declined during the credit crunch.

According to a report in The Times, Citigroup could close entire trading desks in New York, London and other cities; only its units in certain emerging markets and its transactions services division are likely to emerge unscathed.

Goldman Sachs has a better track record than most of its competitors in terms of credit-crunch writedowns but is equally afflicted by the current downturn in market activity.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse has announced 75 jobs losses in its UK investment banking division.