Citicorp to Cut 2,000 From Its Payroll by 1992

Citicorp, the nation’s largest banking company, said Wednesday that by the end of next year about 2,000 jobs will be eliminated through an ongoing reorganization of its corporate business.

The disclosure provides the first indication of the size of layoffs since the company’s retrenchment in corporate financing activities began several months ago.

Bank profits generally have been battered in recent months by writeoffs related to loans for commercial real estate and by a decline in lending activity for buyouts.

Citicorp spokeswoman Anne Luzzatto said the layoffs are mostly middle management and professionals in lending and deal making. She said they were expected to be completed by the end of 1991.

The corporate business division, which covers Japan, Europe and North America and Australia, had about 17,000 employees and plans to reduce expenses by more than $250 million annually, she said.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report Wednesday on the actual number of layoffs, quoting Michael Callen, the executive in charge of the division, as saying that as many as 700 people in North America have left so far, with an additional 400 employees to be notified by year-end.

Luzzatto said about half of the remaining 900 intended cuts are employees in Asia and Europe.

The rest of the 450 cuts will come from businesses targeted for sale by the end of 1991, she said.

Some of the largest personnel cutbacks have come in the leveraged-loan division, where business is off because of the decline in leveraged corporate buyouts and equipment finance and leasing, Luzzatto said.