Wall Street giant Citigroup opens hub in Malaga as staff risk burnout
Wall Street giant Citigroup has opened a hub in Malaga to offer its staff a better work-life balance.
The American firm chose 27 analysts from more than 3,000 applications worldwide for the program which was launched yesterday.
Most of the junior investment bankers are in their early 20s and the 16 men and 11 women include a Briton and dual Spanish-British nationals.
Lifestyle banking: Citigroup has chosen 27 analysts from more than 3,000 applications worldwide for a new program in Malaga
Between them, they speak a total of 15 languages.
The program offers eight-hour days and weekends without work, which sets it apart from the seven-day-a-week culture of the City and Wall Street.
It also offers an alternative life path at a time when it is more difficult to persuade some employees to go to downtown offices after the pandemic telecommute.
A civic reception took place yesterday in Malaga to mark the start of the project. Manolo Falco, global co-head of investment banking at Citigroup, insisted it was “no gimmick” and had gotten off to a good start.
He told the Financial Times: “We’re losing talent to private equity and technology, so we’re keen to see if we can stop that by providing a better work-life balance.”
Maria Diaz del Rio, chief of staff of the Malaga unit, said: “Sometimes banks burn out our analysts, so we want to prove that they can work limited hours while adding value.”
When they’re working on M&A deals, we might ask them to work longer hours, but we’ll reward them with more vacation time.
Those who want to advance their career will have to leave the Costa del Sol.
Staff who have performed well after two years will have the opportunity to apply for jobs elsewhere, such as New York or London.
