- Citi initially hired 27 junior bankers to work at its beachside office on Spain’s Costa del Sol in 2022, offering less pay but a softer schedule than the 80- to 100-hour weeks common in the industry. The program’s closure, however, signals how leverage may be shifting from junior talent back to employers.
Young investment bankers have long been faced with a tradeoff: Work punishing hours for big money. Amid the post-COVID battle for talent, though, Citigroup tried something different, offering some junior analysts a softer schedule and a post on Spain’s famous Costa del Sol.
On Wednesday, however, Citi announced it was shuttering its beachside office in the Andalusian city of Málaga as part of a continued push to “simplify the firm” and improve operations. It could also signal how economic headwinds might spur a wider push for efficiency across the industry, forcing young bankers to focus on job security rather than maintaining a semblance of work-life balance.
It’s a dynamic that plays out continuously, Benjamin Granger, chief workplace psychologist at online survey tool Qualtrics, told Fortune. During the pandemic, it was often said, “The war for talent is over, and talent has won.” Employers have seemingly gained much of that leverage back, though, a trend that could continue if the economy weakens and borrowing costs are slow to come down.
“It’s more of an ongoing tug-of-war,” Granger said.
Hoping to battle employee burnout and attrition, Citi initially hired 27 analysts from more than 3,000 applicants in 2022 for the Málaga program, according to the Financial Times. At the time, their pay was about half the $100,000 starting salary received by peers in major hubs like New York, London, or Frankfurt. Instead of the 80- to 100-hour weeks common in the industry, however, they were promised work-free evenings and weekends.
Citi said six employees from the Málaga office would be leaving the firm, though the more than 220 people working at its primary Spanish location in Madrid will not be affected.
“Our emphasis on fostering colleague mobility efforts and integrating our hubs is evident in the successful applications by many of our colleagues from Málaga for positions in our London and Paris hubs,” the firm said in a statement provided to Fortune.
A battle against burnout
Manolo Falcó, Citi’s global co-head of investment banking, had previously insisted the program in Málaga was no gimmick.
“We suffer from a lot of churn like the rest of the industry,” he told the Financial Times in 2022. “We lose talent to private equity and tech, so we are eager to understand if we can stop that by offering a better work-life balance.”
But efficiency is also in focus, especially as tariff uncertainty threatens the rebound in M&A and IPOs many expected in the early days of the Trump administration. Global investment banking revenue has fallen 6% year to date to $26.2 billion, according to preliminary data from Dealogic, compared with $27.9 billion in the same period last year. The data showed fees collected by Citi, however, jumping from $1.25 billion to $1.36 billion.
Unlike competitors that have pushed stringent return-to-office mandates, Citi permits most employees to work a hybrid schedule with at least three days per week in the office. CEO Jane Fraser has reportedly said the company’s tolerance of remote work could serve as a competitive advantage and recruiting tool.
Still, concerns about industry working conditions have been underlined by recent tragedies. Last year, ex–Army Green Beret Leo Lukenas III died of a blood clot following several 100-hour-plus weeks as an associate at Bank of America. Then in January, Carter Anthony McIntosh, a 28-year-old associate at Jefferies, died from a suspected drug overdose after reportedly working similar hours.
In 2024, an annual survey of more than 500 bankers conducted by Wall Street Oasis found first-year analysts clocked an average of 74 hours per week.
When Citi opened its Málaga office in 2022, some argued it was far from a true solution to the daunting schedule facing many junior bankers.
“If I worked at Citibank I wouldn’t go anywhere near such an offer,” Molly Johnson-Jones, a former investment banker, wrote in a letter to the Financial Times in 2022. “Perhaps if more firms embraced genuinely flexible working, and based pay on output rather than working location or hours, people could work on their own terms—and firms wouldn’t have to resort to such desperate measures to prevent burnout.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
