Citigroup (C -1.44%) announced Monday that it would be expanding buybacks of its debt notes by nearly $300 million, authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.195 billion, increased from its prior $910 million figure.
The financial giant said it would "continue to consider opportunities to repurchase its long-term as well as short-term debt," based on factors like borrowing costs, net interest margin, and tenor, which is the time remaining before a loan is paid off. The company will pay a 3% "early tender premium" to creditors for buying back the debt before it comes due.
Citigroup says it has decreased its outstanding long-term debt by nearly $14 billion this year. At the end of September, Citigroup had more than $270 billion in long-term debt on its books.
The announcement is one of several recent moves done under the leadership of Citigroup's new CEO, Michael Corbat, who took over for Vikram Pandit in mid-October. Corbat last week announced that the company would be laying off more than 11,000 employees as the bank looks to improve its financial strength and cut costs.
