- 20 June 2022
- Posted by: Cryptovalues
- Category: Companies, Cryptovalues News, World News
Citigroup is bucking a market where hiring in the technology sector is at an all-time low.
Jonathan Lofthouse, Citigroup’s head of markets technology and enterprise risk, announced plans to hire 4,000 new employees, one-third of which will be for the markets technology team, as part of the firm’s ongoing efforts to gain a foothold in the industry.
According to Lofthouse, there will be no turning back after the events due to the pandemic that accelerated the transformation and as companies moved most of their operations to digital.
To support the thesis here are his statements:
“Everyone who was in isolation suddenly had to do everything digitally, whether it was getting their groceries delivered or watching Netflix,” he said. “We have always seen competitive technology markets, but particularly right now, after a pandemic, we have seen a digital explosion in all sectors.”
It should be noted that in recent months, a number of key executives at the bank have resigned to take on new projects; notably Alex Kriete, co-head of digital assets who left after 11 years of service at the firm to devote himself full-time to the development of a new cryptocurrency company, along with Greg Girasole, who co-led the team focused on digital assets.
Citigroup’s desire to implement the digital division clashes with recent events in the industry.
Last month, Coinbase announced the suspension of all recruitment, even going so far as to revoke job offers that had already been defined.
Only a few days ago, the CEO had announced plans to lay off 18% of the company’s workforce (practically one in five workers) in order to reduce costs, fearing a potential recession.
Gemini also plans to reduce its current workforce by 10%. Billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are separating their workforce from traditional and cryptocurrency markets. This is in an attempt to focus more on their company’s most critical issues.
But Citigroup’s workforce expansion is moving forward with the aim of expanding the number of software engineers already in the company (around 30,000):
“Citigroup is looking to digitise and modernise our technology,” said Lofthouse.
“Companies that can digitise faster will create a competitive advantage.”
