Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank with the most employees, plans to eliminate more than 50,000 jobs and cut expenses by 20 percent from their peak as the global economy contracts.

Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit intends to reduce head count by about 14 percent to 300,000 in the ``near term,'' according to a presentation on the firm's Web site today. Pandit has already cut 23,000 jobs, leaving the New York-based bank with 352,000 employees as of Sept. 30.

Citigroup slumped 19 percent in New York trading last week and is down 68 percent this year, after four straight quarterly losses totaling $20 billion. The fourth-biggest U.S. bank by market value will probably post a loss of about $187 million for the fourth quarter, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated.

``Continued asset and expense reductions, while positive, are indicative that the operating environment has been and is expected to continue to be challenging,'' Barclays Capital analyst Jason Goldberg said today in a report.

Citigroup declined 57 cents, or 6 percent, to $8.95 in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange at 10:31 a.m., the second-worst performance behind BB&T Corp. on the 24-company KBW Bank Index.

Annual expenses will fall to about $50 billion in 2009, according to today's presentation. Expenses in the past four quarters totaled $62 billion.

Job Cuts

Banks and brokerages worldwide have announced more than 200,000 job cuts since the subprime mortgage market's collapse last year sparked a credit crisis. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which converted last month from the biggest U.S. securities firm into a commercial bank, began earlier this month telling about 3,200 employees, or 10 percent of its workforce, they were out of a job, according to a person familiar with the decision.

Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and rivals such as Merrill Lynch & Co. have been reducing staff as the revenue outlook dims for banks and securities firms.

Most major global stock indexes have dropped more than 25 percent this year, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 40 percent. The International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook forecast last month that global growth will weaken to 3 percent in 2009, from 3.9 percent this year and 5 percent in 2007.

Dimon's Expectations

Pandit's counterpart at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jamie Dimon, said last week that the U.S. recession ``could be worse'' than the credit-market crisis that brought lending to a standstill. New York-based JPMorgan is the biggest U.S. bank by market value.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent in October, the highest level since 1994, the Labor Department said last week. Auto sales plunged 32 percent, manufacturing contracted at its fastest pace in 26 years and consumer confidence fell by the most on record during the month.

The bank's job cuts are bigger than any other financial institution, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. UBS, Merrill and Wachovia Corp. are among companies that have disclosed more than 5,000 job reductions.

Citigroup's board was forced to issue a statement last week in support of Chairman Win Bischoff after the Wall Street Journal reported that some directors may want to replace him.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bradley Keoun in New York at bkeoun@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 17, 2008 10:51 EST