Citigroup posts 5.1 bln dlr loss, to cut 9,000 jobs

NEW YORK (AFP) — US banking giant Citigroup reported Friday a 5.1 billion dollars net loss during the first quarter and said it would cut an additional 9,000 jobs as it struggles with bad bets on subprime mortgages.

It was the second consecutive quarterly loss for the banking titan, heavily exposed to the subprime, or high-risk, mortgage crisis stemming from the worst US housing slump in decades and signs of recession in the world's biggest economy.

But the first-quarter loss was almost half the prior quarter's loss of 9.83 billion dollars, and coupled with cost-cutting measures such as job cuts Citigroup Inc., under its new chief executive Vikram Pandit, appears to be putting the credit crisis behind it, analysts said.

Citigroup took 13.9 billion dollars in write-downs during the first quarter, the bank's chief financial officer, Gary Crittenden, said in a conference ...