Citigroup, one of America's largest financial institutions, is to cut about 50,000 jobs as the bank struggles with heavy losses stemming from the current financial crisis.
The company said its number of jobs is being reduced by around 20% from its peak of 375,000 in 2007.
The cuts come on top of a further 22,000 job losses announced by the firm in October, of which it says 13,000 have already been eliminated.
The troubled bank is saddled with billions of dollars in losses tied to the subprime mortgage crisis - in which millions of Americans were granted mortgages they were unable to repay - and the current global credit crunch.
The New York-based bank has posted losses for the past four financial quarters, including a heavy loss of $2.8 billion during the third quarter. The company said that in addition to job cuts, it plans to lower expenses by about 20 per cent, and that it has reduced its assets by more than 20 per cent since the first
quarter of the year.
It is also selling its Citi Global Services arm and its German retail banking business. Citigroup's shares fell 42 cents, or 4.4%, to a 13 year low of US$9.10 in as US stocks opened on Monday morning.
