China’s Citic has reportedly let go around 10 percent of bankers at CSLA, its offshore unit in Hong Kong.
Citic has laid off around 20 staff in its Hong Kong investment banking division CLSA, according to a «Reuters» report citing unnamed sources. This accounts for about 10 percent of the approximately 200 employees in total at the offshore unit.
The layoffs follows reports of Citic’s plans to offer 30 percent of CLSA’s investment banking workforce to relocate to mainland China where they will receive pay cuts of 25 to 50 percent, in line with the local market. Cost reduction and support for Beijing’s efforts to bridge income inequality in the financial sector were named as the reasons for the move.
