NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Chief Executive Jane Fraser said the company has entered the next stage of streamlining management as part of its biggest restructuring in decades, according to a statement sent to staff on Monday.

“The steps we are taking to reorganize the business involve difficult and consequential decisions, but we believe it is the right approach to align our structure with our strategy,” Jane Fraser said in a separate statement.

Details of these changes at the company level and different functions will be communicated by executives on Monday, first to their teams, then on an internal site, according to the memo addressed to employees.

As part of the shakeup, Citigroup will appoint one of its most experienced bankers in Europe, Nacho Gutiérrez-Orrantia, to head banking operations in the region, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The job cuts could affect thousands of employees, according to a source who was not authorized to speak publicly. In her note, Jane Fraser indicates that the last announcements relating to the reorganization will take place at the beginning of 2024.

Preparations for Monday’s announcements were communicated verbally in meetings according to another source familiar with the situation, who could not speak publicly.

Some staff members could apply for other positions within the bank, the source said.

Last month, Citi announced plans to simplify management as part of its biggest restructuring in decades.

In the first two management levels, Citi reduced functional roles by 15% and eliminated 60 committees, the bank said in presenting its third-quarter results.

Service staff in compliance and risk management areas, as well as technology staff working in overlapping functions, are also at risk of layoffs.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Isla Binnie and Tatiana Bautzer in New York, with contributions from Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Echo Wang and Andres Gonzalez, Stéphanie Hamel, editing by Blandine Hénault and Kate Entringer)

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