Citi is cutting 20,000 jobs — including managing directors — as part of its biggest restructuring in decades. Here is what your financial services expertise is worth when you work for yourself.

Citigroup is eliminating approximately 20,000 jobs — 10 percent of its global workforce — as part of CEO Jane Fraser's multi-year effort to simplify the bank's organizational structure. The cuts are bringing headcount from roughly 227,000 down to around 180,000 by the end of the transformation. The bank doubled its usual severance allocation to $600 million in 2025 to absorb the costs. In early 2026, Citi confirmed further cuts targeting managing directors and other senior staff across multiple business lines.

The Wealth at Work division — which serves professionals at law firms, consulting firms, and other high-compensation employers — absorbed some of the earliest senior-level cuts. Investment banking roles at the analyst, associate, and junior director level have been reduced as Citi pulls back from less profitable sectors and regions. The March 2026 round specifically targets senior employees, which is notable: these are not entry-level reductions. This is structural change at the leadership level.

Jane Fraser's transformation is real and it is taking longer than the bank originally projected. Citi is trying to become a simpler, more focused institution — more like a Wall Street investment bank and less like the sprawling global consumer and corporate bank that grew through decades of acquisitions. The roles that were built to serve that complexity are the roles that are going away. The expertise that filled those roles is not going anywhere.

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Banking professionals from Citi carry credentials that open doors across financial services, private equity, corporate finance, and consulting. Managing directors and senior VPs with experience in wealth management, investment banking, corporate treasury, or regulatory compliance are in active demand from multiple buyer types.

Private equity and family office advisory work is a natural landing spot for senior Citi professionals. PE-backed companies need banking-caliber financial expertise without full-time CFO or treasury hiring — a former Citi MD advising on capital structure, debt financing, or M&A diligence can typically command $250 to $450 per hour. Wealth management professionals who worked with high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients often move into independent RIA or family office advisory roles where annual revenue potential exceeds $300,000.

Compliance and regulatory professionals coming out of Citi are particularly well-positioned. Banks, fintechs, and non-bank financial institutions face escalating regulatory pressure and consistently underbuy internal compliance expertise. Former Citi compliance directors typically bill $200 to $375 per hour advising financial services companies on regulatory strategy and program design.

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Citi managing directors typically earned $300,000 to $600,000 or more in total annual compensation including bonus. Senior VPs ranged from $200,000 to $400,000. The bonus component — often 30 to 50 percent of total comp — made these packages hard to replicate in a straight base salary role elsewhere, which is part of why banking exits feel financially disorienting.

As an independent consultant, the math works differently. You are converting expertise into project-based or retainer cash, without the bonus cycle and without the employer covering benefits and payroll taxes. A managing director targeting $400,000 in consulting revenue should plan to bill approximately 1,000 hours at $400 per hour — or fewer hours at a higher rate if the work is narrow and specialized enough.

Add 30 to 35 percent to your income target to arrive at your gross revenue goal, accounting for self-employment tax and benefits. Then build a pipeline before you need it. The biggest mistake senior bankers make when they go independent is underestimating how long it takes to build a client base when they no longer have an institution behind them generating inbound relationships.

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Citi's brand is globally recognized and your association with it carries weight in every financial services conversation. But "former Managing Director at Citi" is a credential, not a value proposition. The credential gets you in the room. The value proposition determines whether you leave with work.

The strongest positioning for former Citi professionals is built around a specific financial problem in a specific context. If you worked in corporate treasury, your clients are CFOs and treasurers at mid-market companies trying to manage liquidity, FX risk, or banking relationships without a full treasury team. If you worked in wealth management, your clients are entrepreneurs, executives, and professional service providers who need sophisticated financial planning that most wealth managers cannot deliver. If you worked in investment banking, your clients are companies preparing for M&A, recapitalization, or a capital raise.

Name the problem. Name who has it. Then explain, in plain terms, what working with you looks like and what it costs. That three-part structure — problem, client, offer — is what converts a good conversation into a consulting engagement. Citi gave you the expertise. The positioning is yours to build.

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