(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-27 19:33

New York City-based Citigroup may soon layoff as many as 45,000 jobs in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported Monday.

The company with roughly 200 million customers worldwide currently employs about 320,000 people. Citigroup refused to confirm the size of potential layoffs.

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"We are engaged in a planning process in anticipation of our new CEO and our business heads are planning ways in which we can be more efficient and cost effective to position our businesses in line with economic realities," Citigroup said. "Any reports on specific numbers are not factual."

The bank is still searching for a new CEO, after Charles Prince resigned as chairman and chief executive earlier this month. That same evening the bank announced that it will likely write down the value of its portfolio by another $8 billion to $11 billion in the fourth quarter.

In the third quarter, Citi's subprime mortgages and its exposure to financial instruments tied to those mortgages led to a loss of about $6.5 billion.

In April, Citigroup cut 17,000 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce. It was a cost-cutting move that was spurred by billions in losses caused by the widening subprime mortgage crisis.

Hofstra University business professor Dr. Robert Campbell said the financial sector's problems are far from over and will spill over into other sectors of the local economy.

However, Campbell said he doesn't expect a recession. He called the US economy complex and able to adapt to problems. Nonetheless, some people in the Tri-State Area could still lose their jobs, he said.