Citigroup to axe 670 UK loans jobs

Published on Monday 19 May 2008 22:14

THE world's biggest bank is to cut about 670 UK jobs – including a number in Scotland – after it announced the closure of two of its subprime lending arms.

Citigroup said last night it was planning to shut down mortgage supplier Future Mortgages, and its CitiFinancial loans arm.

About 400 of the jobs are set to go from an office in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, with a further 270 at a chain of CitiFinancial offices across the UK.

North of the Border, 18 jobs are to go, from branches in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Falkirk.

The Sunderland operation is due to close by the middle of next year, while the 49 other branches are likely to close over the next few months.

The banking group has been one of the worst-hit by the global subprime lending crisis, suffering a series of multi-billion-dollar writedowns on risky investments.

Last month it announced plans to cut at least 9,000 jobs from its 370,000 global workforce.

Both of the affected businesses are to stop lending to new customers tomorrow.

Administration of both businesses' loans will transfer elsewhere into the Citigroup empire under the closure plans.

Future Mortgages has about 26,000 customers, while CitiFinancial has about 66,000 customers with personal and home loans.