Citi Singapore Untouched By Global Storm: Country Head

Source : The Business Times, January 19, 2008

No job cuts here as growth remains strong; bonuses, pay hikes stay on track

Refuting reports on retrenchments and bonus cuts - in the light of Citigroup's well-documented problems in the United States - the head honcho for Citi Singapore said yesterday that its business here is still growing strongly.

'The layoffs in Singapore are close to zero,' said Piyush Gupta, Citi Singapore country officer. He added: 'There have been a finite number of layoffs and, frankly, that is no different from what we have had every year for the last several years.'

Citi had announced it would shed 4,200 jobs out of a global staff strength of 375,000. This comes on the back of US$9.83 billion net losses incurred for the fourth quarter, and US$18.1 billion worth of write-downs on sub-prime-related exposure.

Mr Gupta said that headcount cuts have been principally concentrated in the US and Europe. 'The impact on Asia has been minimal, and in Singapore, even lower than minimal.'

He also said there are no bonus cuts. 'Good performers will continue to receive good bonuses, staff will be paid salary increments.'

He did note, however, that staff morale across the industry has been affected, given huge write-downs in the big banks globally. 'There has been uncertainty at the macro level.'

But he said that, operationally, the business is able to now move on. 'We're more confident today than 3-4 months ago. A lot of the uncertainty has been taken out, and the problems of the sub-prime crisis have been boxed in and ring-fenced.'

Business in Asia and Singapore is growing very strongly, and headcount is expected to increase in line with this business growth, Mr Gupta said.

'We continue to hire, grow our workforce and continue to expand,' he said.

Citi Singapore saw its revenue increase by more than 35 per cent in 2007, compared to 2006, he said. The current staff headcount of about 9,000 is a 5 per cent increase from 2006.

'Given that our business is growing, we will see a headcount increase this year too, in line with this growth,' he said. 'Singapore will continue to be a growing hub, and we will continue to move more and more businesses to Singapore.'

Mr Gupta noted that the performance of the Singapore business will depend on what happens in the macro market. 'But even if the market slows down, we are fairly confident we can get growth rates of about 20 per cent,' he added.

Asia is an important part of the group's business, he stressed, and business has been growing strongly in this region. Citi's Asia Pacific business experienced revenue increase of 33 per cent year-on-year to US$13.78 billion last year. Net income was up 46 per cent to US$4.6 billion in 2007. 'Asia is the single largest contributor to Citi's business, outside the US, at 17 per cent last year,' Mr Gupta said.

Looking ahead, he said Citi will still look to expand in its consumer business, especially in wealth management and banking for the masses.