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Citigroup Sued for Age Discrimination by 56-Year-Old Banker

Citigroup Sued for Age Discrimination by 56-Year-Old U.K. Banker

(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. was sued for age discrimination by a 56-year-old London banker who had worked at the bank for almost three decades before he was let go in 2017.

Niels Kirk, a managing director for energy banking who was 55 when he was laid off in November 2017, said in documents at a London court Tuesday that a senior investment banking official told him “you are old and set in your ways” before dismissing him as part of the bank’s restructuring.

Kirk’s performance ranking fell from “1” in 2014, the best-possible grade, to “3” -- indicating solid performance -- in 2015 and 2016, according to his witness statement. His overall compensation fell from 937,000 pounds ($1.24 million) in 2014 to 535,000 pounds in 2016, according to documents in the case.

Manolo Falco, Citigroup’s 54-year-old investment bank co-head, made the comment to Kirk when he was let go, Kirk said. Falco denies making the remark, according to Citigroup’s lawyers and senior executives are due to testify later this week.

“Citi supports the employees named in the proceedings, and is vigorously
defending these claims,” Citigroup spokeswoman Edwina Frawley-Gangahar said in an emailed statement.

Of 51 managing directors in Citigroup’s EMEA Corporate Banking department in 2016, three were over the age of 55, according to documents filed by Citigroup. Fifteen were 50 or older.

Kirk said it’s not the first time Citigroup and Falco have faced an age-discrimination claim from a former senior executive. The bank was sued by Gilles Graham, chairman for financial institutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in 2016 after he was laid off at the age of 58, Kirk said, citing documents disclosed by Citigroup.

Kirk said he was “shocked” at the similarities between his dismissal and Graham’s case, which was withdrawn in 2017. Falco was named in Graham’s suit as pushing him out because of age, Kirk said in his witness statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Beardsworth in London at tbeardsworth@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong

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