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Citi, Goldman Plan More Layoffs

Wall Street banks continue to slash headcount, with the latest cuts reportedly coming from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Citigroup and Goldman are each laying off 10% of their employees within their investment banking divisions, according to The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, respectively.

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs spokespersons declined to comment.

At Citigroup, trading desks in New York and other cities are expected to be eliminated starting today, and the firings will also involve cuts of dozens of senior managing directors, positions which in the past have been mostly untouched, said a source familiar with the situation.

In April, Citi announced a first-quarter net loss of $5.1 billion and plans to terminate 9,000 employees, in addition to the 13,200 professionals laid off since the beginning of the credit crunch last summer. In March, the bank announced 2,000 cuts in the investment banking division.

Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, which has remained relatively unscathed by the credit crisis compared to the rest of Wall Street, is expected to start laying off professionals in the investment banking divisions that handle mergers and acquisition advice and corporate fundraising, over the next few months.

Goldman recently reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. The investment banking division posted revenues of $1.69 billion for the quarter, a 44% increase over the first quarter of 2008.

Shares of Citi are off 1.7% at $18.97 Monday morning, and Goldman shares fell 2% to $180.15.

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