Citigroup yesterday made 15 of the staff in its Bermuda offices redundant as part of a series of job cuts worldwide, The Royal Gazette has learned.

The financial services company employs around 230 people at its Citi Hedge Fund Services and Citigroup Fund Services (Bermuda) units within its Global Transaction Services Group, but the company would not confirm which departments had been affected.

The news comes after this newspaper revealed a previous round of job cuts at the Island operations of the US-based banking giant in February.

Citigroup announced in November last year it was aiming to axe 52,000 jobs or one-seventh of its workforce globally, with staff in Bermuda along with their peers across the world invited to a virtual town hall meeting to be informed of the lay-offs and the financial condition of the company.

The second largest bank in the UK with a presence in 100 countries, Citigroup grew considerably with the takeover of Bisys Group for $1.47 billion in May 2007, expanding its services to hedge funds and private equity firms to include accounting and other administration, having previously acquired the Forum Financial Group in November 2003.

But the hedge and mutual fund industry has been hit hard by the financial crisis over the past year as investors pulled out their money and asset values plummeted, impacting Citigroup's Bermuda operations which are largely dependent on fees earned from assets under administration.

Citigroup was bailed out by US taxpayers last year and has received a total of $45 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme.