BizAims

Citigroup Inc. will close two of its British personal loan operations and could cut more than 650 jobs, the embattled banking giant said Monday.

Citi UK said that as of Wednesday, it will stop offering loans through its Future Mortgages and CitiFinancial arms, which deal mainly in subprime mortgage and unsecured personal loans, respectively.

"This business realignment reflects Citi's recently announced global focus of allocating capital to the best opportunities for growth," the company said in a statement.

Citigroup did not say how many jobs it would cut, but the bank wants to close its office at Doxford, about 325 miles north of London, and various CitiFinancial locations throughout the country that employ more than 650 people combined.

The company said the online bank Egg, which it bought from Prudential PLC last year, will not be affected.

Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has launched a painful restructuring process in the hope of restoring profitability to the bank, which was badly bruised by the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market.

Earlier this month Pandit told investors that the bank wants to shed between $400 billion and $500 billion in so-called "legacy assets" including noncore businesses, as well as assets in Citigroup's securities and consumer banking segments. That includes mortgages and other real estate-related holdings.

source: london.com