Who Got the Ax at Citi This Week

Citigroup's latest retrenchment brought 400 layoffs in London and a 5 percent cutback in equity research coverage, plus deeper reductions for fixed-income activities.

Corporate finance and merger and acquisitions staff in London were affected as well, according to Financial News. The story names Citi's UK head of sales, David Parsons, and retail analyst Bruce Hubbard as among those let go. Separately, the Financial Times pegged Citi's layoffs at 400 in the UK alone.

Many more cuts are expected in coming months. For instance, Reuters cites Goldman Sachs analysts' forecast that Citi will cut worldwide headcount as much as 7 percent, or about 26,000 positions.

Citi's fourth-quarter financial release on Jan. 15 mentioned a total of $539 million in charges "related to approximately 4,200 net headcount reductions." It isn't clear whether those cuts occurred during last year's fourth quarter or are slated for this quarter. What is clear is they won't be the final chapter. Vikram Pandit, the bank's chief executive, last week called the moves thus far only a "down payment on the productivity efforts we're working on."

Citi also released bonus figures to employees this week. "Bankers said overall bonuses were flat compared with last year, but with a larger element paid in shares," says Financial News.

The story says official sources at Citi confirmed some of the details, but not others. One detail that was confirmed was the removal of equity research coverage for 200 companies, about 5 percent of the coverage universe, entailing "a limited number of staff reductions." The bank told Financial News it hopes to resume covering "some" of the stocks by the end of the first half.