Citigroup, the world’s largest financial services company, yesterday warned of further cuts to come after announcing the axing of 17,000 jobs in an effort to save $2.58bn a year by 2008. Financial Times, The Independent. The Times

Almost 10,000 of the job losses will be cut outside the US, in individual country operations and Citigroup’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong and London. Many of the cuts will be in support functions such as legal, human resources and finance.

The company has 11,500 employees in the UK, including 9,000 at its European headquarters in London's Canary Wharf. Executives warned that high cost centres such as the UK would be disproportionately affected.

In addition to the cuts a further 9,500 jobs will be moved to cheaper locations, such as India.