Citi, Falling Behind Peers, Unveils ‘Uncomfortable’ Changes and Layoffs

Citigroup unveiled a wide-ranging management shake-up on Wednesday and its chief executive, Jane Fraser, admitted in unusually frank terms that the bank was headed in the wrong direction and said that for the foreseeable future her employees “might not enjoy it so much.”

The global banking colossus said it would cut some divisions and move others to report directly to Ms. Fraser. Long known for its international arms, it will wind down some of its operations abroad and all but eliminate the overlapping, co-heads of various business lines. The firm’s three regional chiefs, who previously had wide authority to make decisions in their geographic areas, were eliminated.

The changes amount to a public confession that the bank has failed to crack the upper echelon of its peers in areas like investment banking and wealth management since Ms. Fraser took over two and a half years ago.

Citi’s stock is down 13 percent over the past year, though shares rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday after the bank announced the changes.

Ms. Fraser, in remarks at a financial services conference, said she would be keeping a closer eye on those who reported to her, and expected them to deliver results quickly. She said that in the coming days and weeks, word would cascade down to the bank’s more than 200,000 employees. An unspecified number will lose their jobs.

“At the end of the day, it is about increasing accountability in the organization,” Ms. Fraser said, predicting that it would “make some of our people very uncomfortable.”