Citigroup cutting 53,000 jobs

Citigroup 3-month NYSE chart

The second-largest bank in the United States, Citigroup, will cut 53,000 jobs in the coming months, the company's chief executive said on Monday.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit told the company's employees of the cuts during a morning town-hall meeting.

The cuts will take Citigroup's workforce down from 375,000 employees at the end of 2007 to roughly 300,000. The latest job cuts are on top of 22,000 positions already being eliminated.

A company spokesman said the cuts will be spread across the massive firm and around the world.

Citigroup is one of the U.S. banks that have received public money from Washington as part of its bailout plan. The federal government injected about $25 billion US into the firm by way of a purchase of Citigroup preferred shares.

New York-based Citigroup has lost money in the past four quarters, including $2.8-billion US in the third quarter.

The bank said Monday it wants to cut its expenses by 20 per cent.

Shares of Citigroup were down 42 cents at $9.10 US in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.