Dive Brief:

• Citi gave year-end promotions to about 8,500 employees, bringing the total of those who received promotions in 2024 to about 31,500 globally, the bank said Wednesday. 
• Year-end promotions took effect Jan. 1, the New York City-based lender said. 
• “Citi is committed to developing and investing in our people and creating an environment where everyone can thrive in their careers,” the bank said in a LinkedIn post announcing the promotions.

Dive Insight:

Thursday’s announcement comes months after the Financial Times reported Citi planned to give drastically fewer year-end promotions – as few as 2,000 – as the bank made its way through a reorganization. 

But Citi refuted that reporting the same day, issuing a statement that said its year-end promotion process was still underway, but “the notion that we will see a significant decline in promotions across the bank or other releveling is false.”

“Citi made firmwide changes to our organizational structure earlier this year, which included promotions and other role changes for a substantial number of colleagues, and managers have received guidance to take that effort into consideration at year end,” the bank said in its November statement. “That said, promotions are a key part of our talent strategy.”

Citi’s year-end promotions figure for 2024 was on par with previous years, the Financial Times reported Thursday. Spokespeople for Citi didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Citi’s reorganization, launched in September 2023, aimed to reduce headcount by 20,000 employees by 2026. Nearly a year ago, the bank said it had wrapped up the effort’s “major actions,” eliminating five layers of leadership, consolidating roles with overlapping responsibilities and cutting 7,000 jobs. The bank was down to about 229,000 employees as of the fourth quarter of last year – 10,000 fewer than it had in the fourth quarter of 2023. 

Citi named 344 new managing directors in December – up from 304 the previous year. This year’s group was the largest Citi had promoted to that role in six years, according to Bloomberg. 

The bank cut more jobs in January, affecting managing directors in Citi’s wealth and technology businesses, as well as employees that deal with data and analysis on bank customers, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. 

Amid the reorganization, Citi has also sought to maintain sufficient staffing to chase opportunity and put its risk and control issues behind it.