Citigroup to Move Employees

[Kris]

July 13, 2004

Citigroup to Move Employees

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

Citigroup is moving more than 1,000 employees to New Jersey from Lower Manhattan, according to government officials and real estate executives, in a major realignment that raises new doubts about the pace of economic rejuvenation downtown.

The bank also is expected to announce today that it is moving more than 700 employees from Midtown to Long Island City, Queens, where it plans to build a 14-story office building across the street from its 48-story tower at Court Square.

That move could solidify a 15-year effort to create a less costly office district in Long Island City that can compete with Jersey City and stem the flow of jobs leaving New York. But at least in the short term, the bank's realignment hurts Lower Manhattan, where, nearly three years after the Sept. 11 terror attack, there is plenty of vacant space and corporations are still skittish about making commitments.

Leah Johnson, a spokeswoman for Citigroup, declined to comment.

In an effort to soften the blow, state and city officials say, Citigroup executives have told them that over time they will actually increase the number of bank employees in New York City. The bank also said it would not vacate any downtown office space. But that could depend on the vagaries of the economy.

J. P. Morgan Chase, which moved about 2,000 employees from downtown to Jersey City two years ago, is also unloading a large block of office space in Lower Manhattan, which will only increase downtown's vacancy rate of 14.2 percent. Chase is still shedding employees as a result of its merger completed this month with Bank One.

"There's going to be a shakeout in the financial services industry throughout the city that involves relocating some jobs out of high-cost space in Manhattan," said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City. "It doesn't make sense anymore. We'll continue to attract the high-value-added jobs to Manhattan. Hopefully, we can capture the other jobs in these emerging business districts in Long Island City and Brooklyn."

Citigroup first moved to Long Island City in 1989, when it erected the 48-story tower, the tallest building in the city outside Manhattan. City officials, who provided the bank with a subsidy package, had hoped the new tower would mark the establishment of a new office district. But the semi-industrial area never took off. More recently, the city rezoned the neighborhood for commercial development and local business leaders are trying to lure restaurants and retailers.

Metropolitan Life moved 1,600 employees in March from Manhattan to two brick factory buildings in Long Island City where workers once built Rolls-Royce automobiles and later fighter planes.

Citicorp is now planning to construct a building for about 1,500 employees on land used as a parking lot across the street from its Long Island City tower. One government official said that 750 employees would be moving from the bank's Midtown offices. David A. Brause, vice president of Brause Realty, which owns the Met Life buildings, said the neighborhood's time had arrived.

"You have the C.E.O. of Met Life commuting to Long Island City every day," Mr. Brause said. "That's a tremendous vote of confidence for this area."

But the situation downtown is more uncertain. The downtown vacancy rate remains relatively high and rents have fallen from a year ago. Larry S. Silverstein is seeking tenants for his 1.7 million-square-foot tower at 7 World Trade Center, which is under construction, and for the planned 2.6 million-square-foot Freedom Tower. There are few prospects in sight.

Goldman Sachs plans to build a new headquarters at Battery Park City, but the investment bank will vacate nearly as much office space in Lower Manhattan as it will erect.

Citigroup never replaced the large blocks of office space it lost in the attack on the World Trade Center. But now it plans to move hundreds of technical and other back office jobs from downtown to three buildings in Morris County, in New Jersey. Citigroup would also consolidate some of its New Jersey operations. The bank, however, has assured state and city officials that it will be adding better-paying jobs in Manhattan.

Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, declined to discuss details of Citigroup's plans. But, he added, "I was assured that the space in Lower Manhattan would be backfilled by high-paying jobs over the next several years."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Pottebaum]

Damn :( However, if they say that they plan to replace the jobs lost in Manhattan with higher-paying jobs (over time), I guess it isn't all bad. Have other companies taking jobs out of Manhattan expressed similar commitments?


Does anyone know how many people are employed by Citigroup in NYC?

[billyblancoNYC]

Damn :( However, if they say that they plan to replace the jobs lost in Manhattan with higher-paying jobs (over time), I guess it isn't all bad. Have other companies taking jobs out of Manhattan expressed similar commitments?


Does anyone know how many people are employed by Citigroup in NYC?

At least there's some going to LIC (with a new building), but I am sick and tired of ****ing New Jersey. I don't care if they claim new jobs are coming, it doesn't mean anything. Corporations of today are shit. JP Morgan Chase is revoking it's NYS banking charter to become a "national" bank. There goes 1/4 of the money for that state group, plus all the jobs to ****ing Illinois. There is no loyalty anymore, just all about profit margin. There was a time when you HAD to be in NYC and were overly PROUD to be there.

[Pottebaum]

What kind of jobs are being sent to Jersey?

I'm not too worried, though. Once things in Lower Manhattan get moving again, things like this won't happen as much. The doubts about Lower Manhattan seems to be the main reason Citigroup is doing this.

[Derek2k3]

It's more good than bad for NYC. I also saw a rendering of the new building and it's glassy and curvy.


Here are more articles

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/queens/nyc-citi0714,0,888778.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-queens

http://www.crainsny.com/news.cms

http://www.globest.com/news/71_71/newyork/124478-1.html

[Stern]

Derek can you post a rendering?

[Pottebaum]

This isn't all bad for Lower Manhattan, either. In the short term, they loose some back-office/tech jobs, but in the long run, they gain more high paying finance jobs. It's a shame that it can't have both, though.

[NewYorkYankee]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-citi0714,0,442780.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines

This says that it's headquarters are in Manhattan, when it moves the employees to Queens and N.J., will the main headquarters remain in midtown?

[Kris]

July 14, 2004

Mayor Turns a Step Back Into a Stride Ahead

By CHARLES V. BAGLI

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg figured out a way yesterday to turn bad news, like Citigroup's decision to move 1,900 jobs out of Lower Manhattan, into a ray of economic sunshine.

He announced that Citigroup, the city's largest private employer, would erect a $200 million office building in Long Island City, Queens, and had promised to increase its work force by 600 over the next two years.

The fact that Citigroup was pulling 1,600 technology jobs out of the still-wounded precincts of Lower Manhattan and sending them to a corporate campus in Warren, N.J., did not even come up until the seventh paragraph of a nine-paragraph mayoral news release. That is where it also mentioned that another 300 bank jobs would depart for Melville, on Long Island.

"Yes, some jobs are going to New Jersey, but more jobs are coming here, and that's the trend that you want," Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference. "You will always lose some kinds of jobs. The question is: Are you making New York an attractive place so that you have more jobs coming in than going out, and are the jobs coming in the higher-value jobs which give New York more of a future? And I think this is a very positive announcement."

The mayor told reporters that Citigroup had promised to replace the existing 1,900 jobs over the next two years with higher-paying jobs. Citigroup's president, Robert B. Willumstad, said the bank would not give up any space in Lower Manhattan.

The bank said it would add 2,500 jobs in all to its New York payroll over the next two years. Subtract the 1,900 jobs lost to the suburbs and you have a net gain of 600, if the bank's projections are met.

"It's a great way to make lemonade from lemons," said Harvey Robins, once an aide to two previous mayors, Edward I. Koch and David N. Dinkins. "But I hope the bank's promises don't turn sour. We need jobs today, not a promise tomorrow. We're still 200,000 jobs behind where we were before 9/11."

In New Jersey, Gov. James E. McGreevey did not gloat about stealing jobs from Manhattan (unlike his predecessors) when he held his own news conference in Trenton yesterday. In fact, he did not even mention New York.

He said that thanks to a tax break worth $57 million over 10 years, Citigroup planned to move 1,600 "out-of-state jobs" to a corporate campus in Warren (the former home of Lucent Technologies), and create 650 jobs.

As for Long Island City, Citigroup said it would build a 14-story, 475,000- square-foot building for 1,500 workers across the street from its existing 48-story office building on Court Square.

It plans to move 800 people from Midtown and add another 700 jobs over time.

"Citigroup is the city's largest private-sector employer," the mayor said in the release, "and will get even bigger with the construction of this beautiful new building and commitment to create more jobs in New York City."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Derek2k3]

Derek can you post a rendering?

I saw it on NY1 earlier. It was also in the press release that Bloomberg spoke at today so it might possibly show up in nyc.gov's Bloomberg photo gallery soon. Here's another more informative article about the tower from the site.

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?epi_menuItemID=c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c70 1c789a0&epi_menuID=13ecbf46556241d3daf2f1c701c789a 0&epi_baseMenuID=27579af732d48f86a62fa24601c789a0& pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name=htt p%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2004b%2 Fpr193-04.html&cc=unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1

[billyblancoNYC]

Well, we'll see if they come through (well, we probably won't)...it's a lot easier to move existing jobs than to promise new ones.

Anyway, does the 2500 new jobs include the 700 or so they say will be added in LIC? At first I thought the 2500 was just in Manhattan. I assume it's not, as they are claiming to net 600-700 jobs.

The new tower looks good...wish it was double the height, though. Looks like a mini-Goldman HQ.

[Kris]

Citigroup Says Restructuring Will Result In More Jobs In NYC (http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1&subtopicintid=1&contentint id=41505)
(The video shows a rendering of the planned Queens building.)

[Kris]

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com

Planning Long Island Citi

BY DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, July 14th, 2004

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/713-citi_announce.JPG
Architectural drawing of new Citigroup building was unveiled yesterday by (l. to r.) Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Mayor Bloomberg and Citigroup President/CEO Robert Willumstad.

Citigroup, the world's largest financial service company, announced plans yesterday to construct a 14-story, 475,000-square-foot building across the street from its 48-story tower in Long Island City.

The $200 million building will have space for approximately 1,500 employees, and will be called Court Square Two.

Court Square One, built in 1989, has approximately 1.4 million square feet and 4,800 employees.

"We have our single largest, most profitable business - our credit card business - headquartered right here," said Robert Willumstad, Citigroup's president and chief operating officer, in announcing the plans with Mayor Bloomberg at Court Square One.

"It is growing," said Willumstad about the credit card business, "and obviously it makes sense to have continuity as we expand that business. This has been the great place for us in terms of the attraction of the employees and a good place to work."

The total number of Citigroup employees in Queens will rise to about 6,300 in late 2006 or early 2007 with the new building's completion.

In addition, Citigroup will improve the connection between the G and 7 subway lines by constructing an escalator.

"Today's announcement shows that the best days for Queens and all of the city are still ahead," said Mayor Bloomberg.

"Citigroup is the city's largest private sector employer, and will get even bigger with the construction of this beautiful new building and commitment to create more jobs in New York City."

Willumstad said Citigroup expects to create more than 2,500 new jobs, largely front office, in the city over the next two years.

To accommodate this growth, the company is moving approximately 1,600 technology jobs out of Manhattan to Warren, N.J., and approximately 300 jobs to Long Island, primarily to Melville, he said.

The jobs going to Jersey, said the mayor, is part of a "trend that started many years ago of low-paying jobs moving out of the city and higher-paying jobs with more of an intellectual content moving into the city. That is a healthy trend that you want to have happen."

Borough President Helen Marshall said, "They were the pioneers who came here. They took a chance on us, and you can see it was a good bet. They put their money on a winning horse."

Joseph Conley, the chairman of Community Board 2, which includes Long Island City, Maspeth, Sunnyside and Woodside, said, "This announcement signals the start of New York City's next central business district. This much anticipated development underscores the vitality of Long Island City."

Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who represents the area, added, "What Citigroup and other businesses and developers are learning is that Long Island City is a great place to live, work and raise a family and because of that, it is an ideal place to build and do business."

[Pottebaum]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-citi0714,0,442780.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines

This says that it's headquarters are in Manhattan, when it moves the employees to Queens and N.J., will the main headquarters remain in midtown?


Yep, the HQ will stay there. They aren't moving many (if any) corporate jobs...just technical (correct me if I'm wrong).

[NewYorkYankee]

Good, we can afford to lose some jobs, as long as the HQ is still in Manhattan.

[Pottebaum]

Yep---and Manhattan will actually end up gaining Citigroup jobs. I read in an article that Citigroup is going to acquire more space in Manhattan this year.

Also, how's the Manhattan/NYC office-space market doing?

[krulltime]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/713-citi_announce.JPG

If this is the rendering...I dont like it. It is so small. It wont be visible anyway...waste of money. The highrise that is there already needs a twin brother (or sister). :x Blah... I prefer that they kept the jobs in manhattan instead.

[Kris]

http://nyc.gov/portal/beans/photogallery/images/2004/07/13/4843/10048/DB7D2955b.jpg

[TLOZ Link5]

Better Long Island City than Jersey City, Krull.

[Stern]

Citigroup is scouting for space in lower Manhattan:

NYPOST:

DOWNTOWN'S COMING BACK

By STEVE CUOZZO

ALL by itself, Bowne & Co.'s new, 200,000 square-foot lease at 55 Water St. chopped downtown commercial availability from 12.9 percent at the end of February to 12.6 percent — higher than Midtown's, but lower than in most every other American city.

That's according to Cushman & Wakefield research director James Del Monte, who says the vacancy rate at the end of February 2004 was 13.4 percent. And, "as Midtown tightens, you'll see more activity downtown," Del Monte predicts.

The Bowne lease, first reported by my colleague Lois Weiss, is a boon for the area and for 55 Water, the huge tower now trying tolure Newsweek from West 57th Street.

Rents at 55 Water are in the low $30s; Cushman & Wakefield's Jeff Heller, who repped Bowne, did not return calls.

Tom Shirocky, part of the CB Richard Ellis team that represents 55 Water's owners, Retirement Systems of Alabama, would not comment on the Newsweek talks.

But if the magazine takes the plunge, it might augur a welcome media influx into a district that brokers say is still too reliant on financial services — although no one will complain because Citigroup is prowling the area for 300,000 square feet, according to our sources.

Even so, the downtown picture remains muddled by conflicting data. Why does Newmark report downtown vacancy at a much-higher 16.6 percent?

Why did Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, at a recent Assn. for a Better N.Y. breakfast, depict downtown's plight in dire terms with an increasing vacancy rate?

The perception matters, because future decisions about public investment in Lower Manhattan will depend on how viable it seems as an office district.

In fact, with so many recent large new leases and renewal/expansions — such as Morgan Stanley's and law firm Fried Frank's — and no reports of companies moving out, it's puzzling why the vacancy rate is not falling more rapidly.

But data exists to support just about any scenario. Why, for example, did Bowne's lease reduce the downtown vacancy rate when it's only moving from Hudson Square, just north of Canal Street? Because Cushman & Wakefield counts Hudson Square as being in "Midtown South."

On the other hand, Silver — who wants to pressure Albany and City Hall for more aid in his district — defines "downtown" as beginning at 14th Street.

Unlike Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark's sample includes 7 World Trade Center's 1.6 million square feet that won't be ready until January. Del Monte says that were he to count the space as available now, it would push the vacancy rate up to 14.4 percent.

CB Richard Ellis global brokerage honcho Stephen B. Siegel, who is marketing 7 WTC for Larry Silverstein, calls its impact on availability a "statistical anomaly."

Exactly. While it's trade custom to count space soon to hit the market, the circumstances of 7 WTC are obviously different from the norm.

What is not necessarily good for landlords in the short run — lower rents resulting from 7 WTC's increase in the office supply — is not necessarily bad for downtown, which can use a tall and shining symbol of regeneration.

And has anyone noticed tall buildings — or any buildings — sprouting at Ground Zero yet?

[lofter1]

Here's one Citigroup employee who is VERY likely to be moved ...

'CRYSTAL' PALACE

EXEC TURNS HIS PENTHOUSE
INTO A METH LAB: FEDS

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12012006/photos/news007a.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:SLIDES.hotlink())
'HIGH' LIFE: Citigroup exec Michael Knibb
is led in cuffs from his East Side building (above),
where he had allegedly set up this "sophisticated"
meth lab in his penthouse apartment.

nypost.com (http://www.nypost.com/seven/12012006/news/regionalnews/crystal_palace_regionalnews_todd_venezia__erika_ma rtinez_and_stefanie_cohen.htm?page=2)
By TODD VENEZIA, ERIKA MARTINEZ and STEFANIE COHEN

December 1, 2006 -- The trailer-park drug known as "hillbilly crack" has been putting on the Ritz lately - as federal drug agents uncovered a crystal-meth lab inside the $6,000-a-month Manhattan penthouse of a bank executive, authorities said yesterday.

Michael Knibb, an information-technology vice president at Citigroup, ran the sophisticated drug operation from the living room of his luxury apartment overlooking the United Nations, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

The 37-year-old Knibb - who makes an estimated $250,000 a year - allegedly told authorities that he had decided to make his own methamphetamines because he could not find a reliable drug dealer after moving to New York from Seattle two years ago.

Knibb was one of 10 alleged do-it-yourself drug makers busted this week as part of a federal anti-meth sweep dubbed Operation Red Fusion.

Yesterday was National Methamphetamine Awareness Day.

The arrests were made after each of the suspects allegedly bought meth-making chemicals from the same Internet sites.

None of the suspects were major dealers, and most just made enough for their own use, according to the DEA.

Knibb wasn't the only suspect whose profile didn't fit the image of the typical meth producer.

Another suspect is Mehmetcan Dosemeci, a Columbia University doctoral student, who told cops he mixed and used the stimulant to boost his studying, officials said.

Dosemeci, a native of Turkey, is a Fulbright scholar and a graduate instructor at the school.

He was busted after he allegedly made the boneheaded mistake of going online to get one of the prime meth ingredients, iodine crystals, and having it sent to his Manhattan Avenue apartment.

DEA agents raided his home in October. The history student might have also gone far in chemistry, since DEA officials said the 1.3 grams of meth they found had a purity of 98 percent.

"It's just not as it seems at the moment. It's a big misunderstanding," Dosemeci said at his apartment yesterday. He and Knibb were free on $150,000 bail.

Agents described Knibb's operation as "sophisticated" for a small-time meth lab. He allegedly used heating elements from lava lamps to cook up the drug. The DEA said they found 7 grams of meth, refined to 92 percent purity, in his apartment.

"To find a meth lab . . . in a penthouse in New York City is shocking, as well a frightening," said John Gilbride, special agent in charge of the Manhattan DEA office.

Knibb was busted in June after allegedly buying red phosphorus online. The controlled substance is a prime meth ingredient. According to residency records, he returned to Seattle in July of his year and stayed in a drug-treatment center. He could not be reached for comment.

Cops also busted Nicholaos Georgopoulos, 29, and Allen Jasovsky, 56, both of whom allegedly brewed meth at a Manhattan Potamkin car dealership on 11th Avenue, where they worked as mechanics. One of the men would keep a lookout, while the other would mix the drug for their own use, the DEA said.

Georgopoulos said he had done the drug for only a couple of years - sucked in by Jasovsky, a 30-year addict.

"It doesn't mean I'm a bad guy, I just have a problem. I don't want to hurt anyone else, I've hurt myself enough," Georgopoulos said from his home in Astoria, Queens.

He said drug use was rampant at the dealership, and that they would cook the drugs behind the opened hoods of cars while they were supposed to be working.

In Ridge, L.I., agents arrested Christopher Bigoness, who allegedly had a mobile meth lab in his pickup truck. In addition to the meth, he allegedly was growing "magic mushroom" in his parents' home.

His efforts to grow the hallucinogenic fungi, however, caused him to inhale mold spores and sickened him.

Knibb, Dosemeci, Bigoness, Jasovsky, Georgopoulos and three other suspects face 20 years in prison, while two others face 10 years.

Additional reporting by Murray Weiss and Erin Calabrese

Copyright 2006 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[kliq6]

no point of the above article in this thread

[lofter1]

He's a Citigroup Exec "on the move" (see title of thread) ...

It's Friday -- come on, lighten up ;)

(Besides this thread has been dead for 18+ months)

[antinimby]

Citigroup Plans to Shed Thousands of Jobs


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/03/26/business/citi600.jpg
Citigroup's restructuring plan is expected to hit consumer operations hardest. Above, a Manhattan branch.


By HEATHER TIMMONS and ERIC DASH
Published: March 26, 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/business/26cnd-citi.html)

NEW DELHI, March 26 — Under pressure from shareholders, Citigroup is planning to shed thousands of jobs and sharpen its focus on its operations outside North America.

The colossal bank will get most of its growth from its international operations, chief executive Charles O. Prince told thousands of employees in India today, as he wrapped up a tour of Asia.

Mr. Prince’s stop in India comes just weeks before Citigroup will announce a broad restructuring plan that could involve the elimination or relocation of as many as 15,000 high-cost jobs from areas including New York, London and Hong Kong, several executives briefed on the matter say. The net job loss could be 10,000 to 12,000, some through attrition.

Citi’s consumer operations will be hardest hit, with front line and back office operations affected, they say. The corporate and investment banking businesses may be hard hit, with several thousand jobs lost, they say.

Managers in these units have been asked to review highly paid employees and look for places to cut fat, particularly just below managing director level.

The job cuts are part of a company-wide review sparked by the chief operating officer Robert Druskin, who two months ago decided to examine expenses and operations across the entire bank. A press release about the restructuring is due out in mid-April, executives say.

Citigroup, like other global banks, has been expanding its outsourcing in India beyond consumer services like bill payment, to include highly skilled areas like research, investment banking and credit analysis of non-Indian companies and deals.

Citigroup has over 600 such employees in India, and it is growing that number gradually.

With the restructuring, some jobs may also be moving to less expensive cities in the United States, like Buffalo, N.Y., Warren, N.J., and the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Citigroup, which employs more than 325,000 globally, is expected to save $1 billion in costs with the coming cuts.

Citigroup already has about 22,000 employees in India, making it one of the largest foreign banks there. Mr. Prince said today that India had been the single biggest driver of growth for Citigroup’s international operations.

Managers in India were not asked to review their operations for possible cuts.

Mr. Prince spoke about the bank’s international growth to over 3,000 employees in India today, in a live town hall meeting in Mumbai and through conference calls with 30 other Indian cities. Mr. Prince and his wife Margaret Wolff are hosting a dinner today in Delhi for several hundred government officials and business executives.

Citigroup has been under pressure to cut costs and grow profits, after being dogged with problems from regulatory lapses to increased competition. Several analysts have suggested that the colossal bank is worth more in parts than together.

Mr. Prince seemed to refute that idea today, when he reiterated his “One Citi” mantra, telling employees that the bank should greet clients with one face.

International operations are already a big portion of Citigroup’s business: the bank’s international revenues in the fourth quarter of 2006 were $9.98 billion, or just over 40 percent of total revenues. International net income was $2.04 billion, just under 40 percent of the total.

International consumer operations brought in $4.95 billion in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2006, versus $7.96 billion from United States consumer operations.

However, in corporate and investment banking international operations provided more than half of Citigroup’s revenues, or $4.66 billion of a total $7.08 billion.

Citigroup will focus on two or three countries outside North America for growth, Mr. Prince said today, including India.

It is unclear how many of the relocated jobs could be moved to India, and Mr. Prince did not mention job cuts during his speech today. His speech was greeted with "rounds and rounds" of applause in Mumbai, said one person who listened to his speech.

Citigroup has 12,000 people on the ground in India in its business process outsourcing division, which processes credit card and mortgage payments and performs other back office functions. Sanjay Nayar, the Citigroup India head, told employees this month that the bank expects to grow that division by 200 employees a month, though that figure takes into account a very high turnover of employees.

Citigroup also has another 10,000 employees in India who work in 39 retail bank branches and 400 Citifinancial offices, as well as corporate and investment banking, private banking and wealth advisory.

During his town hall meeting, Mr. Prince gave an unexpected nod to John Reed, the former Citibank chief who tumultuously shared the top spot at Citigroup with Sanford Weill after it merged with Travelers Group.

Mr. Reed had often stressed that the future of banking would depend heavily on the internet, Mr. Prince told the India town meeting, a prediction that is bearing fruit.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

[antinimby]

We saw this trend of manufacturing jobs heading overseas to less expensive shores, now white collar jobs are doing the same.

This city better be careful because you're now not only competing against the likes of a Jersey City or Charlotte, but the vast and endless, yet cheap workforces of India and China.

[NYCDOC]

The city shouldn't be careful . . . it is the federal government that needs to put the breaks on free trade. There is no way to compete unless you accept the downward spiral of living conditions in developed countries.

[antinimby]

But the living conditions of these up-and-coming countries are not spiraling down, they are in fact, improving dramatically.

And yes, the city does have to be careful. Other places are gaining these white collar jobs at the expense of places like NY, London and Hong Kong.

There are things that are beyond the City's control, but there are other things that it can do to make it more difficult for them to move large number of jobs out.

[NYCDOC]

That is great for the living standards in those countries that they are going upward, but it is our government's responsibility to protect its people not make sure that people in India have good jobs. And they should not expect that it is reasonable or even possible for an American worker to compete with someone making a small, small fraction of their wages. It is not free trade, it is not fair trade, it is stupidity.

I do agree with you though that there are things that can be done to make the city more competitive against places like London and Hong Kong, because we are competing on a level playing field with those places. That is good, healthy competition that I am in full support of.

[antinimby]

Now you're talking. I agree with your last post. ;)

[pianoman11686]

Can't say I didn't see this coming.

[kliq6]

What Citi should do is spin off Smith Barney like they did with Travlers, thus cutting employees and cost without firing anyone. That firm is to big and has there nose in everything, thats why it didnt work and BOA has gained so much on it

[pianoman11686]

By that reasoning, no similar financial services company should have all the divisions it has. I think in Citi's case, the merger proved to be too complex to handle at once. Too many problems came about, and the solution is the type of restructuring and paring that they're attempting now.

I like the new direction of one Citi, but they need to get someone to replace Prince.