Citigroup plans to slash workforce

Citigroup Inc. plans to axe 6,500 jobs, about 10 percent of 65,000 employees worldwide in its investment-banking division, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Sunday.

Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, has lost 15 billion U.S. dollars over the past two quarters and is likely to report billions more losses in the second quarter, the report noted.

The report said the job cuts are likely to begin Monday.

Unlike the bank's other recent reductions, this round will see the departure of dozens of senior managing directors, the report added.

Citigroup, which has more than 350,000 employees globally, had fired at least 9,000 workers as of March 31, the Journal said.

Citigroup spokesman Dan Noonan was quoted saying, "Citi indicated earlier this year that it would be resizing this business in response to market conditions and as part of our ongoing re-engineering efforts."

(Agencies)