花旗需要深度裁员

    要将成本削减到这么低的程度，花旗集团将不得不出售其次级抵押贷款部门，以及自金融危机以来一直在逐渐萎缩的其他业务部门。这些部门，即所谓的花期控股公司（Citi Holdings），是拖累集团效益比率的最大包袱，因为其收入仅占总收入的一小部分，却占用了大量成本。

    然而，花旗集团在上周三公布的重组计划并未涉及大幅削减其不良资产。针对花旗控股的裁员仅占总裁员数的5%。

    投资机构Tangent Capital Partners高级执行董事克里斯托弗·维伦认为，花旗集团还有另外一个选择——重振次级抵押贷款业务。这一领域给银行带来的收入高于平均利息收入。而且，该领域竞争并不激烈，但却有大量需求——数以百万计的借款者希望在利率较高时能够脱身。当然，这样做同样充满了风险，可能会让谨慎的投资者望而却步。但与其让投资者发现，花旗集团与其竞争对手相比更像是一个守财奴，反而不如采取更为大胆的措施。

    看过花旗集团的重组计划后，对该银行一直持批评态度的分析师麦克·梅约向客户致信：“我们认为，这项举措只是初期的‘震荡’，花旗集团需要的是一场‘大地震’，或者更为彻底的重组。”

    花旗集团要想成功，确实应该进行大刀阔斧的整顿。只是不清楚考伯特是否明白当前的形势。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    To get its costs down that low, Citi would have to finally sell off what remains of its subprime lending division and other business units that have been in wind-down mode since the financial crisis. Those divisions, dubbed Citi Holdings, generate the biggest drag on efficiency because they account for little revenue and a huge amount of costs.

    But the restructuring plan that Citi presented Wednesday does little to pare down Citi's former toxic assets. Just 5% of the cuts will come from Citi Holdings.

    Christopher Whalen, a senior managing director at Tangent Capital Partners, says another option for Citi is to dive back into the subprime mortgage businesses. That's one area where the bank could get higher than average interest income. It's also a business with very little competition and a lot of demand - millions of borrowers still want out of the loans they took when interest rates were much higher. That would be a risky maneuver, and one that could turn off some cautious investors. But it would be a bolder call than just showing that the bank can be more of a tightwad than its nearest competitors.

    After reviewing Citi's restructuring plan, analyst Mike Mayo, a long-time critic of Citi, wrote to clients, "We view this move as an initial 'tremor' and that an 'earthquake' or more radical restructuring is needed."

    It's time to really shake things up, if Citi is going to succeed. It's not clear Corbat gets that yet.