Layoffs and hires: Curve, Gemini and Citigroup

The round of layoffs from major fintech businesses continues as Curve and Gemini announce job cuts, while Citi plans on hiring 4,000 new people.

Curve lays off employees

Banking app Curve is the latest in a long line of fintechs laying off employees (Nuri, Klarna, Main Street, BizPay etc) with around 70 employees losing their jobs.

Launched in 2018, Curve combines all of a customer’s existing bank accounts and payment cards into one smart card, accessible through its app. There, users can track their transactions and finances and earn cashback and rewards on purchases.

The news of the layoffs follows Curve reporting an operating loss of £37.9 million in its annual results for 2020 in October last year, despite revenue increasing by over 80% year-on-year.

Crypto platform Gemini is another firm laying off about 10% of its people, according to a post written by its co-founders.

“We have asked team leaders to ensure that they are focused only on products that are critical to our mission and assess whether their teams are right-sized for the current, turbulent market conditions that are likely to persist for some time,” say co-founders and brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

“After much thought and consideration, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to part ways with approximately 10% of our workforce.”

Employees being laid off will be provided with a “separation” package and healthcare benefits, the co-founders add.

They say that the company is now in a “contraction phase” referring to the market environment as “crypto winter” that has been further affected by the macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil.

Citi to employ 4,000 techies

Citigroup, on the other hand, has announced plans to hire some 4,000 tech workers globally, in a $10 billion effort to shift their customer experience online, according to a Bloomberg report.

According to Jonathan Lofthouse, managing director and global head of markets technology at Citi, more than 1,000 recruits will join the markets technology team as part of the bank’s growth strategy.

“We’re trying to digitalise as much of our client experience as possible, front and back, and modernize our technology,” Lofthouse says in an interview. “Those firms that can digitalise fastest are going to create competitive advantage.”

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