CITI cuts 52,000 jobs

NEW YORK - Citigroup has announced plans to cut a further 52,000 jobs. The layoffs come in addition to the 23,000 job losses announced earlier this year. The 75,000 reduction represents about 20% of the group's global workforce, leaving it with about 300,000 remaining staff worldwide.

The beleaguered bank has now reported four quarters of losses since the beginning of the subprime crisis last year. Citi says the job losses will take the form of redundancies, the sale of some business units and natural wastage.

The bank's chief executive, Vikram Pandit, has said the cuts form part of Citi's efforts to bring expenses down to $50 billion in 2009. Rival banks Goldman Sachs and the Royal Bank of Scotland have both also signalled headcutting plans, while analysts belive another Wall Street bank, JP Morgan, is considering cutting 3,000 jobs.

New York attorney-general Andrew Cuomo said Citi ought to "avoid sending the wrong message", and should follow rival Goldman Sachs' example of cutting senior executive bonuses.