Citigroup has decided to rely less on third-party workers. Instead, the bank plans to hire more staff for its internal tech team and let go 30 per cent of its information technology (IT) contractors. It is reported that the bank plans to work with just 20 per cent of external contractors instead of the existing 50 per cent.
The bank had about 48,000 employees on the rolls in the IT division. It now aims to increase that number to 50,000 as per media reports.
Clearly the bank wishes to focus on expanding its internal technology team so that its systems and processes are safe and foolproof. The bank wishes to ensure more efficiency and revenue growth through this strategy even while ensuring stronger risk management and data governance.
In recent times Citigroup has been dealing with increasing regulatory costs and penalties related to lack of controls and weak data governance. The bank had to pay up over $130 million for not attending to data-management problems that had been pointed out way back in 2020.
In October of 2024, Citigroup had warned its employees about potential fraud and unethical behaviour within the company. At the time, the company had said it would considering implementing stricter oversight on the work done by contractors.
Some fraud had reportedly been unearthed involving contract workers, which may be the reason for the bank to reduce the number of IT contractors. A memo had been issued encouraging employees to report any suspected misconduct or breaches of company policies.
