In its efforts to become a "top-three investment" bank, Citigroup (NYSE:C) told Bloomberg it is planning to go on a hiring spree for senior banking associates with a particular focus on its healthcare and technology teams.
“We are focused on quality, not quantity,” Manolo Falco, co-head of Citigroup's investment banking group. “There are lots of opportunities for us to expand in China, parts of the Middle East and Latin America, aside from our U.S. expansion. Our focus is on bringing in high-caliber talent who are complementary to our existing business model.”
But job listings data reveals that the bank is already on that hiring spree, nearly having doubled hiring efforts since the year began.
A deeper look at where the bank is hiring gives a sense of some validation of Falco's statements about hiring in China, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Indeed, the top cities in which Citi is hiring are in China and the Middle East, with the cities of Shanghai and Chennai representing the largest number of openings for Citigroup. Both cities — along with Pune, Manila, and Singapore — have more openings than even New York.
The current openings at Citigroup are diverse - in terms of location and desired skills, as the word cloud above illustrates. But make no mistake: Citigroup is looking for technology professionals as it continues to integrate applications and algorithms into its customer relationship and risk management practices.
In fact, of the 10 most-common job listings, 5 are application-development related.
Citigroup's hiring spree — and its international nature — is good for a banking industry that is finding its way through technology and artificial intelligence. And for the US banking sector, seeing this level of growth planned is a good harbinger not just for banks, but for the American economy as a whole - financial services sector hiring is generally accepted as a forward-looking indicator for markets.
But, finally, it is particularly notable because it comes as Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) announced it would close its equities business and cut 18,000 jobs. Citigroup's job trendline is emblematic of a banking industry that may have cut hundreds of thousands of jobs since the 2008 crisis, but is adding new roles in automation and technology.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.