Citi in talks to sell Turkey consumer arm: source

Citigroup has started a sale process for its consumer banking operations in Turkey and has held talks on a possible deal, a person familiar with the matter said.

Citigroup said earlier on Wednesday it was cutting 11,000 jobs worldwide to save as much as $1.1 billion a year in costs, and that plan would include selling or significantly scaling back its consumer operations in Turkey.

Citi has more than 2,000 staff in Turkey, where it operated its first branch in 1981. It launched its consumer banking business there in 1996 and in 2006 bought a 20 percent stake in Akbank, the country's largest privately owned bank, but sold half that stake in May.

(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Greg Mahlich)