The Citi Group has announced plans to cut around 3,500 jobs in China amid a global revamp. The development comes days after the company announced the appointment of Wenjie Zhang as its new country officer and banking head for the country. The company had also cut around 200 IT contractor roles in China last month amid efforts to hire its own staff for such operations in order to improve risk management and data governance.
According to an official statement, the layoffs will affect staffers at the China Citi Solution Centres in Shanghai and Dalian. It is expected to conclude by the start of the fourth quarter this year. Most of the affected jobs are reportedly full-time roles in the information technology services unit — providing software technology development, testing and maintenance and operational services for the company’s global business. he bank said some of the roles would be moved to Citi’s technology centres elsewhere, without specifying the number of jobs or specific locations.
Citi had unveiled internal plans to dramatically reduce reliance on information technology contractors and hire thousands of employees for IT in March, following regulatory penalties over data governance and inadequate controls. The bank said that it had scaled back in the United States as well as in Indonesia, the Philippines and Poland — part of its workforce reduction drive under the global restructuring plan.
The broader plan to reduce 10% of the workforce (around 20,000 employees globally) was announced in January last year as the company moved to streamline operations and downsize teams in these countries.
“China has always been an important part of Citi’s global network and business development. We will continue to firmly serve corporate and institutional clients in China and serve their cross-border banking needs,” reports quoted Marc Luet — the president of Citi Japan North Asia and Australia — as saying in the statement.