Opinions on Citi moving bankers to the south of Spain, with better WLB but lower salary??

Do you guys think that this is something that will be followed by other banks? Will those teams be looked very down upon? Do you think that the work that they will do will be less meaningful / intern work?

https://www.ft.com/content/3447af72-01fa-459a-b5b6-8998b529db01

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I would say what is considered "good" on here is what makes a good exit to PE. In which case by WSO comments standards, no. PEs are *probably* unlikely to headhunt a laid back Citi banker who does his calls by the Spanish beach.

But taking that aside. and personal reasons on why you'd probably want to move to Spain. Citi strategy probably spent along time thinking if it is strategically/economically feasible to maintain operations in Spain, given that they have sold assets around the world and decided not to sell in Spanish ones they must have meaningful flow in the country. But it's most likely in Treasury services and payments, or retail. Fraser has already made statements that making top 3 BB or top 5 is not feasible. Especially since the financial crisis, IMO Citi today is a shadow of what it once was, just look at its share price "Max". Fraser has to do more to attract talent whatever it takes, even if it means sacrificing productivity and hiring earlier, I think there is a genuine risk of Citi slipping into a pure retail bank despite its balance sheet. The other banks probably don't have this issue *yet*.

 

Citibank has been a strategic tire fire for the last 4 decades. So when you ever read about them doing anything assume it’s a bad idea and will fail.

 

GS has tried something similar multiple times - IB in India, IB in SLC - and it's never worked out, all of those projects were cut after a few years. The teams end up being used as overnight ppt formatters, chart creaters, etc, and rarely given meaningful work. Might as well just lean on your India graphics teams. If you're at a non-target in Spain, this is great news, but I doubt any US IB employees will actually go.

Also thinj the half salary is kind of ridiculous for "only working 40 hours a week" - that is a normal workweek and $50k USD is FAR below market for US-quality work, classic Citi though. If you leave banking for a 40 hour work week you're rarely taking a 50% pay cut.

All of this is assuming it is IB given comments from their IB head. If they are offering back office that's a different story

 

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