Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser reorganizes businesses, cuts jobs as bank is mired in stock slump

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser announced a corporate reorganization Wednesday, saying the move would cut down management layers and accelerate decisions.

Fraser said in a release that Citigroup would be divided into five main business lines that report directly to her. Previously, the firm had two main divisions catering to consumers and large institutional clients.

The changes will include job cuts, though the New York-based company hasn’t decided on a number yet, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Fraser, closing in on her third full year atop Citigroup, is seeking to revitalize a firm mired in a persistent stock slump. While Citigroup is the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets after JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, it has a far smaller domestic retail banking presence than its competitors. That helps explain why Citigroup has struggled in the post-2008 financial crisis era.

“These changes eliminate unnecessary complexity across the bank, increase accountability for delivering excellent client service and strengthen our ability to benefit from the natural linkages that exist amongst our businesses, all with an eye toward delivering on our medium-term targets,” Fraser said.

Citigroup’s previous structure resulted in tensions between managers and a lack of accountability that sometimes thwarted new initiatives, according to current and former employees. The corporate setup dates back two decades to when Sandy Weill ran Citigroup, according to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo.

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Citigroup stock has languished since 2008.

The five businesses are U.S. personal banking, wealth management, investment and commercial banking, trading, and institutional services. Fraser also consolidated management of non-U.S. businesses under Ernesto Torres Cantú.

While the CEO has also pulled back on Citigroup’s overseas presence, exiting more than a dozen markets including Mexico, it hasn’t been enough. Citigroup’s stock has declined about 40% since Fraser took over in March 2021, the worst showing among her big bank rivals.

Citigroup trades for the lowest valuation among U.S. big bank peers, and at around $41 per share, the stock is at levels seen during the 2008 crisis, Mayo said last week in a note titled “What’s Going on with Citigroup Stock?”

While some rivals have been eliminating jobs amid a slump in Wall Street activity, Citigroup staff levels have grown as the firm complies with regulators’ demands to improve risk controls. The bank had 240,000 workers as of June, 4% higher than a year earlier.

Fraser addressed the coming job cuts in a memo to staff; in it, she said that her reorganization would be complete by the first quarter of next year.

“We’ll be saying goodbye to some very talented and hard-working colleagues who have made important contributions to our firm,” Fraser said.