{
  "id": 12577295,
  "title": "Citi shortens its analyst program to two years as Wall Street fights private equity for young talent",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/citi-shortens-its-analyst-program-to-two-years-as-wall-street-fights",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-07T07:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/10/07/citi-slashes-promotion-timeline-analyst-program-hiring-war-private-equity-ai/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Citi has shortened its analyst program from three years to two years, as it battles for young talent with private equity firms, according to an internal memo confirmed by a Citi spokesperson to Fortune. The financial sector has long struggled with the challenge of attracting top graduates, with junior bankers earning salaries of $80,000 early in their careers, compared to private equity analysts who can earn up to $300,000. In recent years, private equity firms have started recruiting rising analysts earlier, sometimes even two years before they officially accept a position, using tactics such as \"on-cycle\" recruiting and college student \"coffee chats.\" This trend has led banks like Citi to shorten the six-and-a-half-year path from analyst to partnership to two years, in an effort to retain their junior workforce. Citi's co-head of North America investment banking, David Friedland, expressed disappointment at the fact that private equity firms are interviewing so early in a banker's career, stating that it is hard for young professionals to make a choice to go into another field in their first month on Wall Street.",
  "summary": "“The reality that private equity is interviewing so early in a banker’s career is very unfortunate, and to some extent, disappointing,” one Citi executive said.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}