(Bloomberg) — Of all the signs of how quickly investment banking fortunes have changed in the last three years, the clearest may be on the Costa del Sol.
There Citigroup Inc., fresh off Wall Street’s most profitable year ever, was seeking to address the moment’s hottest problem in early 2022: holding on to junior bankers. A seaside outpost in Malaga, Spain was a new way to offer perks to attract talented young employees.
These days, mergers and initial public offerings are moribund amid tariff concerns, extending a multiyear drought. Junior bankers are more concerned about job security than work-life balance. And Citigroup is shuttering its Malaga office.
“Our primary Spanish location is Madrid, where we employ more than 220 people who are not impacted by this action,” the bank said in a statement to a Bloomberg News request. “Citi continues our strategic growth in Spain with a strong presence in our core business lines, which include investment banking, wealth and markets.”
When Citigroup first announced the Malaga plan, it expected to hire around 30 analysts in the southern Spanish city. Some of them may now be relocated to Paris or London, while about six are expected to leave the bank, the bank said in the statement.
The decision, which was first reported by the Spanish newspaper Expansion, was driven by the bank’s broader efforts to simplify its operations. As part of that, Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser, has reorganized the bank, hired leaders from outside the firm and cut thousands of roles.
The opening of the Malaga office three years ago had followed a boom in dealmaking that had analysts and associates working late nights and weekends, making talent retention a challenge.
The Mediterranean operation was one of Wall Street’s more eye-catching attempts to promote a better work-life balance after the pandemic spurred burnout among employees around the world.
–With assistance from Todd Gillespie.
(An AI summary of this story was removed because it was imprecise about the reason for the closure.)
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