Citi Investment Bank Head: Investment Banker Staff Will Have to Return to Working in Offices

The benefits to banks of having their staff work from home will “erode over time”, Citigroup’s investment banking boss Paco Ybarra, told the Financial Times.

"I am very cautious about this,” Ybarra said in an interview with the Times. He argued that banks had been able to make the most of remote working because of “capital that we have accumulated before” when people met face to face.

“At some point, you would see depreciation of that capital and then you would start seeing problems,” he added, pointing to the potential for difficulties with on-the-job learning and people’s ability to relate to each other. “Some of the feeling that we have about how well this thing works, I think will erode with time.”

But he predicted more flexible arrangements, such as staff working two days from the office and three days remotely.

Ybarra's division generates two-thirds of Citi’s $19 billion in profits.

-RW