C - Citigroup Inc. (C) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-04-12 16:46:09 ET
Citigroup Inc. (C)
Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
April 12, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Jennifer Landis - Head of IR
Jane Fraser - CEO
Mark Mason - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Mike Mayo - Wells Fargo
Glenn Schorr - Evercore
Betsy Graseck - Morgan Stanley
Jim Mitchell - Seaport Global
Ebrahim Poonawala - Bank of America
Erika Najarian - UBS
John McDonald - Autonomous Research
Ken Usdin - Jefferies
Vivek Juneja - JPMorgan
Scott Siefers - Piper Sandler
Gerard Cassidy - RBC Capital Markets
Matt O'Connor - Deutsche Bank
Saul Martinez - HSBC
Chris Kotowski - Oppenheimer
Steven Chubak - Wolfe Research
Presentation
Operator
Hello and welcome to Citi's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Today's call will be hosted by Jenn Landis, Head of Citi Investor Relations. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question-and-answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. Ms. Landis, you may begin.
Jennifer Landis
Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you all for joining our First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. I am joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Jane Fraser and our Chief Financial Officer, Mark Mason. I'd like to remind you that today's presentation, which is available for download on our website, citigroup.com, may contain forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances.
Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including those described in our earnings materials, as well as in our SEC filings. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jane.
Jane Fraser
Thank you, Jenn, and good morning to everyone. Today, I'm going to touch on the macroeconomic environment before I update you on the progress we're making, and then I'll discuss the quarter. While global economic performance was surprisingly [desynchronized] (ph) last year, the overall story has been consistent of late, one of economic resiliency supported by tight labor markets and the consumer.
Growth this year looks poised to slow in many markets, and conditions are generally disinflationary. We're already seeing some Central Banks in the emerging markets starting to cut rates. In the U.S., a soft landing is viewed as increasingly, likely. But we continue to see a tale of two Europe's, with Germany hurt by the weak demand for goods, while southern European countries such as Spain and Greece benefit from stronger demand in services.
In Asia, Japan is joining in the [areas of] (ph) bright spot, and China's economy has gained some more traction, although its property market remains a concern. Amidst all these dynamics, we continue to focus on executing against our strategy and delivering the best of Citi to all our stakeholders. I said 2024 will be a pivotal year for us, as we put our business and organizational simplification largely behind us and we focus on two main priorities. The transformation and the performance of our businesses and the firm.
Last month marked the end to the organizational simplification that we announced in September. The result is a cleaner, simpler management structure that fully aligns to and facilitates our strategy. We are now more client-centric. We're already seeing faster decision making and a nimbler organization at work. We have clear lines of accountability, starting with my management team. Fewer layers, increased spans of control and frankly much less bureaucracy and needless complexity. It will all help us run the company more efficiently, will enhance our clients' experience and improve our agility and ability to execute.
And while reducing expenses wasn't the primary driver of the program, more roles were ultimately impacted than the 5,000 that we discussed in January. We also took a number of other steps to sharpen our business focus and improve returns by right-placing businesses to better capture synergies, exiting certain businesses in markets that just didn't fit with our strategy, and right-sizing the workforce in wealth. As a result of all these combined steps, which include the simplification, we are eliminating approximately 7,000 positions, which will generate $1.5 billion of annualized run rate expense saves....
Citigroup Inc. (C) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript