Up to 100 employees at US financial giant Citigroup’s Waterford operation are awaiting news on whether their jobs are under threat, following the announcement that the group is shedding 50,000 posts worldwide in a bid to restore profitability.
Citi’s hedge funds operation in Waterford, established in August 2005, was originally expected to employ 250 people by 2010 in the provision of global fund accounting services. The office, based at the IDA Business and Technology Park at Butlerstown North, on the Cork Road, employs a considerable number of graduates from the School of Business at WIT and offers an excellent local job prospect to college leavers.
The New York-based financial services group has lost more than $20 billion in the last year, hurt by bad bets on complex and risky debt often tied to mortgages. Citibank in Ireland has declined to comment on the proposed global job cuts, which are expected early next year.
The group also employs over 2,000 people in Dublin and has operations in more than 100 countries. The status of Citigroup’s 100 Waterford-based employees is expected to be clarified in the coming days.
