NEW YORK — Citigroup Inc. expects to have completed its corporate cost review by mid-April, company officials said Monday, as published reports suggested the nation's largest bank was considering cutting about 15,000 jobs.
The Wall Street Journal said the job cuts — which would amount to about 5 percent of Citigroup's worldwide work force — were part of the New York-based bank's restructuring plan, which was disclosed late last year and is aimed at improving the bank's financial performance.
Citigroup's chairman and chief executive, Charles Prince, has come under heavy criticism from investors because its expenses have been growing faster than its revenue, reducing profits.
Prince, who currently is on a trip to India, told reporters in New Delhi that he would not comment on the Journal's report.
"We are going to announce the results of our strategic structural review on or before our earnings announcement on April 16," he said.
Earlier, Citigroup spokesman Michael J. Hanretta declined comment on the report, also saying results of the cost-cutting study would be made available "on or before earnings on April 16."
The review is being led by Chief Operating Officer Robert Druskin. The newspaper said Druskin would report his recommendations internally by the end of the week. It cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.
The newspaper said the cuts could result in a charge of more than $1 billion against earnings.
Citigroup shares fell 18 cents to close at $51.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Analysts at Standard & Poor's Equity Research said the savings from the job-cutting regime "may not be meaningful to near-term operating results if the cuts come as a result of attrition."
It added that it will be important to watch how other cutbacks are scheduled, since "the timing of the expected savings are just as important as overall size of the cuts."
Prince told a company-sponsored financial services conference in late January that the New York-based bank still intended to grow by focusing on increasing its existing retail and commercial businesses rather than by acquiring other companies.
The Journal reported Monday that one possibility that Citigroup is considering is not replacing some of the 30,000 to 50,000 Citigroup employees who leave the company each year. The paper said that the cuts could slice through Citigroup's global banking empire. It employs about 327,000 people worldwide.