Citi Dismantles Popular CitiFX Commentary And Analysis Team

Over the years, we have periodically used CitiFX's real-time market wire as one of our preferred sources of high-grade commentary and analysis.

Alas, it in a few days (or hours) this source of information will go dark because according to Bloomberg, Citigroup has "dismantled" its global team that provides commentary and analysis on foreign-exchange markets.

While all jobs within the CitiFX global FX strategy team are affected - with employees in London and New York leaving the firm - some people may continue to work with Citi in other capacities, sources told Bloomberg.

Citigroup made the drastic change because other parts of the bank, such as its research division, are offering similar services, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. The real reason: cost-cutting.

And in another cost-cutting move, Citigroup has also dismantled its Latin America corporate bond trading team as liquidity tightens and issuance dries up, Bloomberg News reported earlier Thursday.

Among those leaving or expected to leave Citigroup are Ebrahim Rahbari, global head of FX analysis and content; Benjamin Randol, lead North America macro FX strategist; and Giammarco Miani.

Thomas Fitzpatrick, global head of CitiFX Technicals at the bank’s FX Strategy arm, and one of Wall Street's better chartists, also exited the firm last week, Bloomberg reported.

These departures are hardly not the last ones. In early March, Citigroup began cutting hundreds of jobs across the company, with the Wall Street giant’s investment banking division among those affected. However, the cuts amount to less than 1% of Citigroup’s 240,000-person workforce, which is why in a time of stagnating revenues many more heads will roll.

Staffers across the firm’s operations and technology organization and US mortgage-underwriting arm were also among those being affected, with the routine cuts part of Citigroup’s normal business planning, the people said. There’s been no broad mandate for managers to cut staffers; instead, various divisions have been grappling with different reasons for the cuts, Bloomberg reported.