Citigroup to eliminate 17,000 jobs

Citigroup Inc. on Wednesday said it would eliminate 17,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce, in a broad restructuring designed to cut costs, boost profit and bolster a lagging stock price.

An additional 9,500 jobs will move to lower-cost locations worldwide. That means the restructuring will affect 8% of the bank’s 327,000-person workforce.

Consumer banking, Citigroup’s largest unit, will be hardest hit, followed by corporate and investment banking. Citigroup said most of the job cuts would take place this year.

The changes mark the first companywide restructuring since Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in 1998 to form Citigroup.

Shareholders have pressured Chief Executive Charles Prince to slash expenses even as the bank tries to grow, especially outside the U.S.

Operating expenses soared 15% last year to $52 billion, while revenue rose just 7%.

Last summer, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Citigroup’s largest individual shareholder, called on the bank to make “draconian” cuts.

Chief Operating Officer Robert Druskin said 43% of the job cuts would be in the U.S.