Citigroup Inc is about half-way through cutting 10 per cent of the 65,000 employees in its investment banking unit, a person familiar with the job cuts said Monday.

The unit, as previously reported, plans to lay off about 6,500 workers in the division, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the job cuts are still under way.

"More than half of those have already been eliminated," the person told The Associated Press.

A major portion of the remaining job cuts are happening this week, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Recover frombad investments

In total, Citigroup has announced 13,200 job cuts this year as it tries to recover from bad investments on mortgages and leveraged loans that cut billions of dollars from its portfolio. Citigroup, which is the largest U.S. bank by assets and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide, posted a $5.1 billion loss in the first quarter and a nearly $10 billion loss in the fourth quarter of last year.

Many bank analysts expect the company to report another loss for the current quarter.