Pandit vows to make Citi world's best firm

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Citigroup's Indian origin CEO Vikram Pandit, who has been on a major restructuring drive, including thousands of layoffs, since taking charge late last year, has asked his colleagues to help transform the "best financial institution" into the world's top-most company.

In an internal memo sent to the Citi employees this weekend, Pandit is believed to have congratulated them for "the remarkable efforts you've made helping our clients navigate our difficult markets."

While seeking the employees' support, the CEO wrote in the mail, text of which has been disclosed by an online business tabloid DealBreaker, "As part of the greatest turnaround story of our age, we have the opportunity to transform Citi into something more than just the best financial institution in the world."

"We can make Citi the best company in the world, bar none. I believe this strongly, and I know from listening to many of you, that you believe it too," he added.

Interestingly, the memo has been sent within days of reports that the world's biggest bank is gearing up for an aggressive round of layoffs, with plans to cut 6,500 jobs from its investment banking business.

The company posted a loss to the tune of 15 billion dollar in the past two quarters and is expected to see further billions of dollars of sub-prime crisis related write-downs.

The latest round of layoffs come on top of close to 10,000 employees having been shown the door earlier this year, as part of Pandit's aim to cut the company's annual expenses by 15 billion dollars. The company has over 3,50,000 employees on its payrolls across the world.

In April, Citigroup said 9,000 jobs would go on top of the 21,000 eliminated in the past year.

Besides, there have been also reports about Citigroup planning to overhaul its bonus system and put in place a new compensation plan. A recent report said Pandit was seeking to to change the way bonuses were calculated to reward cooperation across different divisions and the performance of the company as a whole.

In its latest mail to the employees, Pandit said: "You should be very proud of how well you are competing to win client trust and business. Our business success record clearly shows this and, of course, these achievements only add to Citi's rich legacy of accomplishment -- a legacy that inspires us and challenges us to accomplish even more."