The Jamaican headquarters of Citigroup. Reports suggest the company plans to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide. - File(AP):

Citigroup Inc. expects to have completed its corporate cost review by mid-April, company officials said Monday, as published reports suggested the nation's largest bank was considering cutting about 15,000 jobs.

The Wall Street Journal said the job cuts - which would amount to about 5 per cent of Citigroup's worldwide workforce - were part of the New York-based bank's restructuring plan which was disclosed late last year and is aimed at improving the bank's financial performance.

Profit reduction

Citigroup's chairman and chief executive, Charles Prince, has come under heavy criticism from investors because its expenses have been growing faster than its revenues, reducing profits.

Prince, who currently is on a trip to India, told reporters in New Delhi that he would not comment on the Journal's report.

"Weare going to announce the results of our strategic structural review on or before our earnings announcement on April 16," he said.

Earlier, Citigroup spokesman, Michael J. Hanretta, declined to comment on the report, also saying results of the cost-cutting study would be made available "on or before earnings on April 16."

The review is being led by Chief Operating Officer Robert Druskin. The newspaper said Druskin would report his recommendations internally by the end of the week. It cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The newspaper said the cuts could result in a charge of more than US$1 billion against earnings.

Analysts at Standard & Poor's Equity Research said the savings from the job-cutting regime "may not be meaningful to near-term operating results if the cuts come as a result of attrition."

It added that it will be important to watch how other cutbacks are scheduled since "the timing of the expected savings are just as important as overall size of the cuts."

Charles Prince, the chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, told a company-sponsored financial services conference in late January that the New York-based bank still intended to grow by focusing on increasing its existing retail and commercial businesses rather than by acquiring other companies.

The Journal reported yesterday that one possibility Citigroup is considering is not replacing some of the 30,000 to 50,000 Citigroup employees who leave the company each year.

The paper said that the cuts could slice through Citigroup's global banking empire. It employs about 327,000 people worldwide.

$2 billion gain

In January, Citigroup said it earned US$5.13 billion, or US$1.03 a share, in the October-December period, down 26 per cent from $6.93 billion, or $1.37 a share, a year earlier when it had a $2 billion gain on the sale of Citi's asset management business to Legg Mason Inc.

Quarterly revenue rose to US$23.83 billion, up from US$20.78 billion in the same period in 2005. But while its revenue was up15 per cent, expenses rose an even greater 23 per cent.

For the full year, profits totalled US$21.54 billion, or $4.31 a share, down 12 per cent from US$24.6 billion, or US$4.75 a share in 2005.

Revenue was US$89.6 billion for 2006, up from US$83.6 billion in 2005.