Citigroup opens Malaga hub amid staff burnout concerns 

Wall Street giant Citigroup has opened a hub in Malaga to offer its staff a better work-life balance.

The US company selected 27 analysts from more than 3,000 applications around the world for the program launched yesterday.

Most junior investment bankers are in their early twenties and under 16 men and 11 women are British and a dual Hispanic-British national.

Together they speak a total of 15 languages.

The scheme offers eight-hour days and work-free weekends, distinguishing it from the seven-day culture of the City and Wall Street.

It also offers an alternative lifestyle at a time when it is more difficult to persuade some workers to move to city center offices after the pandemic has ended.

Yesterday, a citizens’ reception was held in Malaga to mark the start of the project. Manolo Falco, Citigroup’s global co-head of investment banking, insisted it was “no gimmick” and off to a good start.

He told the Financial Times, “We’re losing talent to private equity and technology, so we’d like to understand if we can stop that by providing a better work-life balance.”

Maria Diaz del Rio, chief of staff of the department in Malaga, said: ‘Sometimes banks burn our analysts, so we want to prove that they can work limited hours and still add value.

If they are involved in mergers and acquisitions, we may ask them to work longer, but we compensate them with more vacations.’

Those who want to make a career will have to move from the Costa del Sol.

Employees who have performed well after two years will be given the opportunity to apply elsewhere, such as in New York or London.