Citi is to hive off a chunk of its London legal function to Belfast as the banking giant moves to implement its sweeping restructuring programme.

The bank confirmed last week that it will relocate part of its markets and banking division, which handles investment banking work, to Northern Ireland as part of a wholesale review of Citi's business that was unveiled last month.

Up to 39 jobs will be created in the new-look legal and compliance division at the bank's Belfast arm, which was established in 2004 as part of an earlier drive to cut costs by moving support functions from major financial centres to less costly regional outposts.

The restructuring follows the announcement in April that the group's 1,000-strong global legal function would be affected by a wider $4.6bn (£2.3bn) restructuring programme that is expected to cut 9,000 jobs in total.

A spokesperson said: "Those potentially affected by the relocation are being consulted and are being given the opportunity to relocate to Belfast. There may be redundancies as a result of this restructuring."

Citi European legal head Brad Gans said the new legal and compliance teams would "continue to grow in scope and complexity" following the move to Belfast.

The news comes after Citi's Wall Street rival Morgan Stanley restructured its wider equity and fixed income teams in London earlier this year – a move that has sparked fears that legal jobs at the bulge-bracket bank could be at risk.

However, Morgan Stanley this week pledged that no legal jobs would be affected and stressed that the bank was looking to recruit lawyers.

Additional reporting by Caroline Grimshaw.

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