US banking giant Citigroup announces job cuts

US banking giant Citigroup says it will cut four percent of its global workforce. The announcement was welcomed by investors on the stock market. Citigroup's new chief executive Michael Corbat announced on Wednesday that the banking company would cut 11,000 jobs worldwide to save as much as $1.1 billion (840 million euros) a year in expenses. He said in a statement that Citigroup, which is the third largest US bank, would "significantly" scale back operations in Pakistan, Turkey, Paraguay, Uruguay and Romania. The United States, Brazil, Hong Kong, South Korea and Hungary are also to be affected. Around 6,200 of the job losses will be in the consumer banking division. Citigroup shares rose nearly 4 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading shortly after the announcement. Corbat was appointed CEO on October 16 following the shock sacking of his predecessor, Vikram Pandit, who led the bank for five years. Pandit's dismissal came after a long run of disappointing returns and a slow recovery from the global financial recovery in comparison with other banks. A Citigroup spokesman said that the timeframe for the job cuts was not clear, but that the process would continue into next year.