Senior management at Citigroup believes it can spare its securities and banking division from additional cost-cutting measures as long as there is not a significant decline in capital markets volumes, according to an analyst report.

Jeffery Harte, principal at boutique Sandler O'Neill + Partners, met recently with James Forese, head of global securities and banking at Citi, and John Gerspach, the US bank's chief financial officer. Securities and banking is part of Citigroup's institutional business and includes markets, corporate and investment banking and private banking.