Credit Suisse Cuts 5,300 Jobs, 11% of Workforce

(NEWSER) - Citigroup plans to slash more than 50,000 jobs, roughly 14% of its workforce, the company announced today, in an effort to shed expenses during the economic downturn. The cuts are in addition to the 23,000 heads that have already rolled this year, Bloomberg reports. Citi stock fell 19% last week, and is down 68% on the year. The nation's fourth-largest bank says the moves will forward its goal of cutting expenses by 20% in 2009. More»

Downsizing binge will rival that of financial crisis

(NEWSER) - Wall Street's job creators aren't exactly living up to that billing. The market is soaring, and so are bank profits, but financial firms are preparing for a massive round of layoffs, analysts tell Fortune , estimating that the banks will cut nearly 21,000 jobs. That would be a bloodbath on par with the one that occurred during the financial crisis; 28,000 were eliminated in that purge, but that number included jobs lost in the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and at the time firms were failing, not prospering. More»

Bank faces 'extremely challenging' conditions, CEO says

(NEWSER) - Citigroup plans to cut some 4,500 jobs—2% of its global workforce—in the coming months as it "faces an extremely challenging operating environment," CEO Vikram Pandit warns. Pandit, who has cut more than 100,000 jobs at Citi since taking charge in 2007, says regulatory changes and the euro zone crisis are among the factors forcing the company to cut costs as revenue slumps, Reuters reports. More»

It's not just the firings: others are leaving for safer jobs

(NEWSER) - The financial crisis is reshaping not just the landscape of Wall Street, but its face as well, reports the New York Times in a look at the hemorrhaging of the Street's top talent. Layoffs aside, finance's best and brightest—arguably the same daring risk-takers responsible for the recession—are seizing the chance to retire early, or more often, fleeing federally overseen big banks in favor of more cash and opportunity at smaller boutiques. More»

Case for Nationalization grows

(NEWSER) - Team Obama is coming closer and closer to using the N-word they've been studiously avoiding: nationalize. Already the government is the top shareholder at both Bank of America and Citigroup, and with both banks in freefall, many think buying the rest is the only option. “I would guess that sometime in the next few weeks, President Obama and Tim Geithner will come out and say, ‘It’s much worse than we thought,’ and just bite the bullet,” said one economist. More»