Bankers' bloodbath as Canary Wharf cull sees up to 1,000 lose their jobs

It is part of a worldwide cull ordered at Citigroup, the world's biggest bank. None of the 9,000 staff based in London know yet who will be sacked.

Senior managers have been told to go through records and axe the poorest performers. Staff will learn within weeks whether they are to be paid off.

Many of the losses will be in managerial roles with the investment bank and wealth management arms among those taking the biggest hits. Backroom staff will also be affected.

Sources said anyone earning over £1 million would be safe because they were high performers. But anyone taking home less than that is in the line of fire.

The New York-based bank today said it will axe 17,000 jobs around the world this year and transfer a further 9,500 to cheaper locations overseas such as India.

Citigroup employs 327,000 workers around the world. The company has still to spell out the toll at Canary Wharf but analysts said the figure would be between 500 and 1,000. A Citigroup spokesman said: "We are not putting any country-by-country figures out at all because this is an ongoing process."

Chairman and chief executive Charles Prince said the cuts would save it £5.2billion in three years. Mr Prince has come under pressure from investors, including Citigroup's largest individual shareholder, Saudi billionaire prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who demanded that the company take "draconian" steps to reduce its costs.

Mr Prince said: "Ultimately these changes will streamline Citi and make us a leaner, more efficient, and better able to take advantage of high revenue opportunities."

Tara Ricks, managing director of City headhunters Joslin Rowe, said: "This is certainly a much higher number than had been anticipated and while the devil will be in the detail it will inevitably have a major impact in London where Citigroup has a huge operation.

"Citigroup already employs 19,000 people in India and is geared up to take on lots of extra people there."

The City is also gripped by fears that there could be heavy job losses at Barclays and ABN Amro if the proposed merger of the two is successful.