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“On the wealth side and investment banking, wallets — particularly in investment banking — are further behind [on expectations],” she said. “We’ve been repacing some of our investments there, as you’d expect.”

Citigroup joined rivals in trimming its dealmaker ranks in November, letting dozens of bankers go globally as dealmaking declined. Revenue in the unit is down 50% to around $3bn so far this year, according to data provider Dealogic.

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Citigroup had been among the most active recruiters of senior dealmakers in recent months, focusing hires on areas such as technology and healthcare coverage. It also took on Jens Welter from Credit Suisse to co-head its banking capital markets and advisory unit in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

At the same conference, Bank of America chief executive, Brian Moynihan, highlighted a 60% slump in dealmaking in the final quarter of 2022. However, he said the bank was avoiding layoffs, instead relying on natural attrition and resetting its job vacancies to focus on only essential roles.

David Solomon, Goldman Sachs’ chief executive, hinted that it could make further job cuts after stripping out 2% of employees in September. “We will size the firm to reflect the opportunity set that we see in front of us,” he said.

Morgan Stanley became the last major investment bank to start job cuts, starting a plan to strip out 2% of its headcount — or 1,600 people — on 6 December.

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