Low unemployment streak extends another month

Citigroup is planning to lay off 20,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, in the next two years as it comes off its worst quarterly financial results in more than a decade. 

The embattled bank on Friday reported $1.8 billion in losses in the fourth quarter of 2023, while revenue fell 3% to $17.4 billion from last year, according to its latest financial filings. The layoffs could save the bank as much as $2.5 billion, Citigroup's presentation to investors shows. 

"While the fourth quarter was very disappointing due to the impact of notable items, we made substantial progress simplifying Citi and executing our strategy in 2023," Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said Friday in a statement. 

Citi's layoffs will bring its headcount to 180,000 by 2026, a Citigroup representative told CBS MoneyWatch. The cuts follow a smaller round of job reductions that eliminated roughly 10% of senior manager roles at the bank late last year, Bloomberg reported. 

Citi's workforce reductions form part of a larger reorganization effort aimed at improving the bank's financials and stock price. The restructuring is expected to reduce Citi's expenses as low as $51 billion, bringing the bank closer to its profit goals, Reuters reported. 

Citibank's organizational overhaul comes as financial institutions are attempting to recover from a turbulent year that included a decline in their stock prices. According to Forbes, the 15 largest banks in the U.S. lost more than $46 million in value in a single day last August.

In:
• Silicon Valley Bank
• Citi
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Elizabeth Napolitano

Elizabeth Napolitano is a freelance reporter at CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and technology news. She also writes for CoinDesk. Before joining CBS, she interned at NBC News' BizTech Unit and worked on The Associated Press' web scraping team.