Citigroup Could Write Down Up to $24 Billion (20k workers could lose their jobs)

Source: ABC News/Reuters

As Many As 20,000 Workers Could Lose Their Jobs

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Major American banks are expected to unveil substantial losses and secure more cash from abroad in what is shaping up to be a pivotal week for the global credit crisis, with central banks also poised to weigh in again.

Citigroup Inc. could write off as much as $24 billion and lay off 20,000 workers in a drive to cut costs and boost capital, CNBC said on its Web site in a report dated Sunday.

CNBC said the plans will be unveiled on Tuesday when Citi, the largest U.S. bank by assets, reports fourth quarter results.

Investment bank Merrill Lynch is just as troubled.

The Financial Times said on Monday that Merrill was seeking about $4 billion in a second capital raising, and the Kuwait Investment Authority was expected to be a significant investor.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/wireStory?id=4129442

working for them. It seems to be a multi-level marketing operation. You go in and re-organize peoples finances. They take out a low interest mortgage on their house and pay-off their other debt. Then they pay off the mortgage early and are debt-free. They buy insurance and start an investment program as well. All from the same folks. At least that's how it was supposed to work. I was told that the average client has $35,000 in net worth. For this service they are charged about $3,000 in fees some of which goes to the agent they deal with, but a good deal of it goes to the agent's up-line people. In addition there are insurance commissions and investment commisions.

I was told people were making huge incomes doing this. There were lots of motivational meetings (a warning signal to me). But I noticed most people were not driving the kind of cars that come with huge incomes or dressing for the part. Obviously there were lots of people working, but very few making any real money. So the $600 per hour figures I was given may have been a bit hyped.

In the end I had a problem with taking $3000 from somebody who only had $35,000 to tell them something they could easily figure out for themselves. I suppose for some people this makes sense, but it's like a magic pill to lose weight. Also the client ended up with one organization handling all their finances. In theory it sounds good, but if you can't meet your house payments, the mortgage holder knows where to look for other cash values. The customer in essence reduces the risk for the bank. I had the feeling that once the customer actually started getting ahead you would go in and look for ways to generate more fees.

In the end I took another job, it did not pay $600 per hour but it did pay for every hour I worked.

They want me to pay a enrollment fee of about 120, when I started questioning why? and that I would like to sell their services independently, her supervisor lost her temper.
I didn't really need to work for them but my friend wanted to enroll someone to get her commission so I decided to go and check it out.

F'in shit! $24,000,000,000 'write-off'!?! :wow: The dominoes begin to fall, big time.

Unfortunately, most of those 20,000 soon to be unemployed aren't the ones who made the bad decisions, or who got the big bonuses while things were good; it'll be the lower-echelon types. When the big banks go looking for cuts, it's their rank-and-file workers who suffer. Always.

are the fastest means to create illusion of liquidity.

I would sure like to write off about thirty grand in debt.

It's sick isn't it?

Sadly enough, the 20,000 that will be laid off will likely be lower end jobs. They'll eventually show up somewhere else.....

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc , the largest U.S. bank, may eliminate 17,000 to 24,000 jobs and write off as much as $24 billion for subprime and other credit losses, as part of a plan to cut costs and add capital, CNBC television said on Monday.

The write-down and job cuts may be announced on Tuesday, CNBC said, when Citigroup is widely expected to report the largest quarterly loss in its history.

<snip

The bank said in November it would write down $8 billion to $11 billion for losses from collateralized debt obligations tied to subprime mortgages. The CDO market has since deteriorated further, and several rivals have announced large CDO-related losses.

Further job cuts at Citigroup might take place over the next year, CNBC said. They would be on top of 17,000 cuts announced in April, when Citigroup employed about 327,000 people.

Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/reuters/2008/01/14/citigroup-may-cut-thousands-of-jobs-report

one of the greedy jerks who lobbied the new bankruptcy laws into place to screw everyone and protect themselves but they didn't get that the artificially high home prices and loans were going to bust at some point.

for running their own bank into the ground?

Right?

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Citigroup Inc. will cut its dividend as part of a plan to stabilize the banking giant's finances, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans.

At a board meeting on Monday, Citigroup directors were poised to sign off on a "sizable" dividend cut, the newspaper said. The bank is also getting a cash infusion of at least $10 billion and will write down as much as $20 billion in mortgage-related investments as part of its fourth-quarter earnings report, due on Tuesday, the Journal added.

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