I don’t know why, but I am not surprised:
The world’s biggest financial services firm on Thursday dismissed its entire stock market technical analysis team, including longtime analyst Louise Yamada, who led the group. Yamada had been with the bank for nearly a quarter of a century.
The firing of Yamada and her team of assistants is part of an effort by Citigroup to control expenses. Last week, Citigroup fired six other analysts, and the company is planning to eliminate up to 1,000 jobs from its global corporate and investment banking division.
Under technical analysis, charts and computer programs are used to project price trends in stocks, bonds and the broader market. The practice makes minimal use of economic fundamentals and is not without its critics on Wall Street.
"While a difficult decision, we believe focusing our research investments toward fundamental company coverage best positions Citigroup to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment,” said Bill Kennedy, director of global equity research, in a note to staff.
During her tenure at Citigroup, Yamada was quoted frequently by the financial press and often appeared on CNBC. In 1998, she published a book on market analysis called Market Magic: Riding the Greatest Bull Market of the Century.
I suspect the problem wasn’t Yamada or the quality of her work. Rather, the more likely issue is that anyone can learn basic technical skills; I cannot reall ever meeting a trader who didn’t use at least some form of charting software. Indeed, the ubiquity of powerful workstations on Main Street removed a big edge that Wall Street had.
Still, this passion play may not yet be over. Imagine how short-sighted this move will look if Yamada & Co. set up shop elsewhere, make a great market top call, while Citibank clients get slaughtered in a crash.
Saved a few dollars in salary, though . . .
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Source:
Citigroup Eliminates Stock Technical Analysis Group
Matthew Goldstein
TheStreet.com, 2/17/2005 3:53 PM EST
http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/brokerages/10209532.html
Start shorting citibank stocks!!!
Citibank’s laughable e-support department may be a sign of deeper problems.
not only are they eons behind companies like american express to offer services like muliple account management on-line, it takes then a month(!) to process new on-line direct debit orders.
In addition, they cannot seem to be able to answer their customer service emails correctly nor do they keep track of their payment confirmation numbers. The confirmation numbers that logically would allow them to pull up your payment history is apparently useless. “We have to have the printed confirmation page to confirm payment”. Why even have the confirmation numbers anyway?
They email reply to me below gives insight to the flaws of their customer service department.
<< Unaccounted online payment 05/17/05 11:23:25 AM 5 of 6 You wrote: Hi I had paid for my last month's citibank bill online but the new statement does not show it. instead, it is counting me as a late payment. my confirmation # was xxxxxx. please clarify thank you Re: Unaccounted online payment 05/17/05 11:49:27 AM 5 of 6 Customer Service Wrote: Our records indicate that the account is currently in default status, based on your payment history. Your Card Agreement states in part, that your Annual Percentage Rate (APR) may be increased if you fail to meet the terms of the Card Agreement because you fail to make a payment to us or any other creditor when due. Your account may be eligible for a lower rate after you have met the terms of all Card Agreements for six consecutive months. Your existing balances will remain subject to the higher rate until they are paid in full. If you feel that this is in error, please contact us. You can also contact our Customer Care Center at 1-800-950-5114. Outside the U.S., please call collect at 605-335-2222.>>
In case you were wondering, calling them was unhelpful. First, they had to transfer me to their “e service” at another 1800 # and then that’s when they told me “we don’t have a record of us sending you any confirmation number so we will have to see the printed page”.
CitiBank has started mass lay-offs in their IT Dept. The new CIO Mitchell Habib has a history of cutting IT jobs. Just “Google” Mitchell Habib. He did away with 70 % of the IT jobs at GE Captial EMS. Habib has finanical ties with TCS (Tata Consulting Services in India). It’s horrible. Congress should take some type of action. India has a different economic system that the U.S. cannot compete with. After Citigroup CIO Don Trotter resigned in 2005, the hand writing was on the wall. I lost my job with Citigroup along with several others through Constructive Discharge allowing to downsize without paying severance or unemployment benefits.
Sooner or later, CitiWatch, Congress or some organization will expose Citibank for all the scandals aand under handed things that they are doing.
Mittell Habib is at it again. I found a letter on a desk that stated that on Thursday 8/17/06 the Workstation Support staff at all locations will be told that the jobs have been cut. They will be bringing in Dell to to do the Local support and utilizing Call Center in India for software support. I fear for my job at Citigroup as he has stated to us that his goal is 40% outsourcing. I think his percentage is much higher as I have heard that they are also looking at server support and the helpdesk , which is already a call center.
Mittell will leave Citigroup in another 12 months or so and everyone should pray that he does not look at their company as his next stop.
Today I too fell victim to Mitchell’s axe. We were told today on a conference call that all of the desktop support functions are being outsourced to Dell. Mr Habib was convieniently spared. I for one resigned today and I am no longer employed with this company and I fear for the wellbeing of my former coworkers as to when they will be told that their careers are over. This person and i use that term very loosely, is filthy rich and has absolutely no regard for his fellow man. I pray each day that he meets with the same situation where he is displaced and out of a job. And to think that we trained our replacements, of course that is how it usually goes.
I didn’t get hit by the layoffs yesterday, but many people I consider friends did. This was a truly horrible experience, to watch friends of mine who have planned their whole lives around the idea that they had a good job at a stable company. It hurts even more that Habib was telling everyone a month ago that the layoffs were done. He didn’t rule out layoffs coming from local groups, but he said that he was done. He lied… again.
I feel for my colleagues, and hope that they will all find something that will be better for them. I will help where I can. However, as selfish as this sounds it may be worse for those left behind. At least those who got the axe yesterday know what’s happening. The remainder of us are on tenderhooks now, wondering who’s next. Productivity is going to go to hell, people are going to ask themselves repeatedly “why bother?” I myself am fighting hard to repress my feelings of helplessness, rage and sadness, trying hard not to apply for a new job. Maybe this is the way Habib is going to get to his 60/40 split… though not the one he told us about; the 60% contractor 40% employee split.
By outsourcing work to India, the India native upper mgmnt of Citi, are putting people back in the ‘Motherland’ to work.
Maybe one day they will figure out that at the same time they are giving somone in a mud hut a job, they are putting an American out of work, and into a mud hut.
Sooner or later they will see that enough Americans out of work means fewer people can afford to buy homes, and then Citi’s Mortgage division will have less customers, and then I’m sure in the wisdom of business this will bring more layoffs. Just makes good business sense.
Pretty soon the American company Citi, will be a company based in India that will be offering banking, credit cards, auto loans, home loans, and student loans to India citizens because, no one in America will be having another Revolutionary war.
Gas in the US $3 a gallon
Gas in the Middle East, less than $.20 a gal.
I’m just another cog in the wheel, but its just a matter of time before this citizens of this country puts down the remote, and ‘corretcs’ these greedy fu**ers.
Mitchell Habib – You lied to the entire company and said no more layoffs, and there was a letter on your desk to layoff more people. Thank your lucky stars that its illegal to kill someone. You have over 200 people and their families wondering where their next paycheck is coming from. Will they lose their house? Will they lose everything they have worked for? You don’t care, you make too much money to actually have a concience.
Iyer Shankar – your meeting where you were introduced to your employees, you told them that your education cost you $100, and you are for outsourcing because you came from India and there is better & cheaper help in India, you bragged about your salary, and pissed a lot of people off that day.
Sounds like two people that have the personality of somone that is overdue for an old fashioned ass beating.
Citi, want to save some money? Why not cut those two a-holes? Do you really think that the customers that make all your paychecks possible are going to want to speak to Rajafaheem aka “Frank” in his broken english will make for good customer service, you’re wrong.
Oh and American workers, you know, the people at the bottom of the totem pole that hold it up so the people at the top can be there, they know what outsourcing is, and why its being done, and how it is affecting our lives and our economy.
Outsourcing is causing an economic shift between India and the US.
Pretty soon in America, running water in the office will be a perk. And the work day will come to a halt if a Yak wanders into the office.
And the stock will be worthless, which is what you’re trying to raise by your short-sighted business decisions.
This is all related to political b.s. How can you do the company a favor when you cut out the most prominate business facing group from IT. These guys are not a faceless name behind a call center. These are the guys that go to the desktops, and fix the business systems, and applications that no one else can do. Dell is not going to have the technical know how, or knowledge of our custom systems to resolve these issues. I can only speak of the St. louis site, but the workstation group here does a lot of other groups jobs as well as hardware related issues. What is Operations support going to do now? Or Desktop Engineering? Both of these groups will be directly affected by this layoff. And dont kidd yourselvs, this is not the end. Who is next? the TSD, im sure. Security Admin, probally. Command Center.. where is it going to end. Then when mitchel, and Andrew and Shankar leave in a year the few people left will be stuck to try and rebuild what was once a great group of IT staff. Im sure the Business managers who work one on one with a lot of these techs will not be happy with the crappy support they are going to get. All I can say is they need to let mitchel know. Maybe if enough people complain he will pull his head out, and realize that he needs to stop trying to increase his year end bonus and do whats right for the company.
What do you do, Mitchell will screw our lives up so he can get more money in his own pocket then move on and leave the mess for someone else to clean up. Whats happen to Steven H back bone, he has been putting his tail between his legs for many many years. Get some balls Steven. Stand up for your people. That have stood by you all these years.
Mr Habib – how do you sleep at night knowing you have hurt so many people. Not only the people that work their but there wife,kids, mom and dad they could be caring for. These employees have worked for Citi for sometime and for what..some jerk like Habib to come and take it away. There will be more cuts, yes probally the TSD because they have the worst managers. leah and jessica have ran that desk to the ground. leah only care for herself and the people that do her job for her. She has no clue what she is doing. And if you dont kiss her butt she doesnt like you. the only thing she is good at is acting like she knows and kissing butt to get ahead. watch out BA. jessica – I dont know how she stayed afloat for so long, she talks a good talk but knows nothing when running a helpdesk, maybe if she got the ice out of her pants and showed some care people might like her a little more”maybe”
Whats up with OP’s they could be next,or Security Admin?
This is ugly – we maybe cutting our own throats doing this..but what the hell Habib will be letting us go soon anyway. Habib is like Bush you got friends in low places use them to screw the U.S. I hope you friends in India get a kick out of this, how much stock do you have in there company habib.
one more thing…how long does the managers know before hand…?
Screw your top 10 bottom 10 Habib
this doesn’t suprise me at all. i’ll never understand how a company that makes this much money and makes so many good busniness decisions can also make so many poor decisions. i worked at citi for 5 years in desktop support. there are so many specialized software packages within the departments at citi that there is no way contractors from dell can step in and keep it running. it takes a long time to learn all the little fixes and problems that the many different departments have. after all, there are only 5,000 employess onsite with 28 desktop support staff. incredible isn’t it.
i still can’t get over the some of the incompetent management that is still there at citimortgage. jessica especially. being a bad manager or supervisor is one thing. jessica is just a plain evil person and it’s wo easy to see. she has made many enemies with people working under her and other managers. i only know a handful of people who DON’T hate here guts. how this has been overlooked all these years is beyond me.
citigroup claims it is a worldwide company and it is. however, we all know that it’s bread and butter by far is here in the good old USA not india.
example: hadji makes $3 per hour and joe makes $20. so, citi hires more hadjis for less overhead running the company. yes, citi saves money paying their employees less but it also is hurting the countries economy that helps it the most by people ot of work. eventually all the joes will make the same as the hadjis and then everyone is screwed, even india! the USA might not be able to afford the $7 billion thats right 7 billion in foreign aid we give to them every YEAR!!!!!
I was pleasantly surprised to read so many accurate statements about the technology service desk. Honestly, I thought I was the only one who thought that way about the parties mentioned so I can vouch it’s all true. What I hope the technology service desk agents realize is that they are the blind sheep licking the dirty ass of their leaders. You fall for your balloons and kudos, it’s only sugar coating for what’s to come. If you are told that your job is safe then your manager is either lying or being lied to and will be snowed like the rest of you. Get your resume ready, there is no need to cry months from now when you lose your job, you had fair warning. Don’t let them get you down. Be prepared, strong soldiers, because this is corporate war and you will be a casualty. Remember, Habbib said himself he considers us not as people but as “resources.”
Who is next? the TSD, im sure. Security Admin, prob’ly. Command Center..
TSD likely, service from India would be an upgrade from what the rude TSD phone screeners provide, possibly to Citi Cards.Security Admin, they were already given their walking papers, duties are migrating to CARDS.Operations, most of them moved to other departments already.Application Engineers will probably follow the TSD being moved to CARDS staff.
Every day I now wonder what is going to happen to my job. I have alot of friends that were just given walking papers and by the grace of god go I. In the good ole days playing CS and working our asses off. Buying a round of the biggest damn beers in the world and happy to do it because I just got hired. To workstation support at PP my hat is off to you. To Citi you just lost the greatest part of your customer service. To CMI and CHE remember who always took care of you and was happy to do so? You will not get the same service from Dell or anywhere else. Well I have one more thing to say. Kissing ass payed off for some in workstation and makes it still possible to keep your job when everyones else’s is gone.
Maybe Citi should start selling mortgages in India. Citi over pays there IT staff? Maybe some of the underqualified ones. But the qualified ones are way underpaid, they just valued working for a company with the former size and prestige that Citi had. I feel bad for the users who will left with non-english speaking support staff and a two month wait on getting a new employee up and running.
It is a really grim situation for those who are impacted, and others who will now live with the fear. I know because I have been in this situation myself; you work your butt off, constantly trying to make more money for the stockholders, and one fine day you are told that you no longer cut it. You are not even made aware of the new expectations and given a chance to change.
This is allowed to happen because most large corporations treat their employees as commodity instead of assets that add value to their business. Executive management brings the ideas and knowledge that creates value for the customers, while everyone else is just cost of doing business. The evidence lies in the discrepancy between executive and worker pay.
Although the memo is coming from MH’s office, I think he is only a small part (compare his pay with Chuck’s) of this machine that only exists to profit the stockholder regardless of the human cost. I don’t think MH can hold the job if he does not show a dramatic response to management’s demands. It is shame on Chuck and his immediate reports who seem to be yielding to the greed of a few stockholders, such as the Saudi Prince, and sacrificing the long-term viability of the company.
My heart goes out to all of you. I wish you good luck and I sincerely hope that you will find an even better opportunity than the one at Citigroup. Now go and kick some butt!
Job security in America is not in staying with one company, but in ability to find another job quickly. Every time I get pissed at my management, or above, I put my resume out and start a job search. Once I get an offer I start to consider if I want to move or stay. So far I’ve decided to stay (I have my reasons), but if needed I can find a new job in 4-6 weeks. Upper management is like politics – they lie to make themself look good, and it’s all CBS (Citi Bull Shit, or Citi Business Strategy if upper management asks what CBS stands for)
I recently left citi because I have no intention of helping TCS with their transition. A lot of other people like me are voluntarily leaving. I loved the comment about citi over paying people. The truth is that people in the st. louis location are getting payed at least fifteen thousand below market if not more. The joke will be on citi when TCS gets behind the wheel and holds their stupid ass*s hostage. If citi wants to outsource then let them, they will learn the hard way when other companies hold their IP and sell it to the highest bidder and at the same time up their contract rates every year.
Please don’t pretend MH gives a crap about india. The only color he loves is green. When I started way before this outsourcing crap the stock price was 62. Now we’ve sent all these jobs overseas and what’s the sock price, between 45 and 48. So much for shareholder value.
Give it up! Since Mitchell and his boys (lumberjack queens included) have been tuning into this little love fest I’m sure they are getting a kick out of your juvenile ranting! Outsourcing is as American as Apple Pie after all we started this and we continue to support it. If you don’t like American’s loosing their jobs then don’t use products and services from companies that profit from it. You can also refuse to talk to the person on the phone if they are not American. As for all the wonderful people that have been mentioned in this posting they have never changed and they will always be what they are. Remember one thing even if Pakistan nuked India today Mexico, China, and other countries will be ready to take their place. There will always be Habib’s in this world guys who have personnel interests in companies like TCS, Satyam and Dell and make their money by costing you yours. Don’t for get some of these people are the same ones who share humidors at the Ritz-Carlton with the LSA sales rep, take trips to the gulf thanks to BMC. Least we forget about the 10% kick-back from vendors that about 4 or 5 of the progress point IS folks got during the PP move, Greed as they say ,is good. But in the end we all face the same judge and what will they say to HIM!
This thread is a great indicator of the feeling at Citi.. everybody is just waiting for him to leave, and take his team of ex-GE snakeoil salesmen with him. That day will be a good one..
Every time he stands up in one of his All Hands meetings, he makes people feel great, and then he cuts more. The guy is a professional liar, and somehow he seems to get the upper management (non ex-GE’rs) that seem to have some scruples to fall in line with his lies. I just don’t understand how someone can sleep at night, knowing that he cut people that worked endless hours for something they believed in, and handing out the job to a TCS resource in India. What a damned shame. One can only hope that there is some justice in the world for guys like this..
There are still good people at Citi — honest, good people who believe in the bank and the products. I hope that MH leaves before too many more are cut.
Team America talked about McClymont, he is the same breed as the rest of the ex-GE group — great talkers. He will cut too, and make you feel good about it. They are all the same, they will leave together, cut together, and do whatever else together. They came together, created all sorts of high level management positions for each other with high paying jobs, and insulated themselves from risk from below.
The day that MH leaves, it will be open season on the rest of his entourage, and you better believe that the “resistance” will rise and take them out.. they can go on to the next company to destroy. Just hope that the company isn’t a complete disaster at that time..