The purpose of the "town hall" style meeting Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit organized today at the firm's midtown HQ was, he said in a memo that went out on Friday, to discuss the bank's “accomplishments over the past 11 months." Despite the fact that the bank's share price closed at a worrisome $9.52 on Friday, Citi had “plentiful capital, abundant liquidity and our revenue is strong," he wrote. But now, an anonymous source has leaked to news organizations that actually, the purpose of today's meetings is not so much to rally the troops as to inform them that the bank will be cutting 53,000 jobs globally — a "humongous" number, some might say — that brings the total of Citi's workforce down 20 percent, to about 300,000 globally. We expect he'll bring security to the meeting.

Citigroup to Shed Another 53, 000 Jobs [Times/AP]