Citi is giving junior bankers a faster way up. It’s the $215 billion bank’s latest move in a talent war with private equity. 

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Citi is shortening its investment banking analyst program from three years to two, allowing junior bankers a quicker path to associate roles. 

The change will help Citi recruit and keep young talent as private equity firms step up efforts to hire from Wall Street. It also brings the bank closer to the promotion timelines used by some rivals, David Friedland, Citi’s co-head of North America investment banking, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Citi is betting that faster promotions will make it easier to keep junior bankers from leaving. The bank gives junior employees earlier access to more responsibility and higher pay by moving analysts to associate roles after two years instead of three.

The goal is to make staying at Citi more appealing as rival banks, private equity firms and hedge funds recruit Wall Street talent. Private equity firms especially have begun approaching bankers very early in their careers, sometimes in the first months after they start their first Wall Street job.

“The reality that private equity is interviewing so early in a banker’s career is very unfortunate and to some extent disappointing,” Friedland said. “It’s very hard to make a choice to go into another field in the first month you land on Wall Street.” Friedland joined Citi after nearly 28 years at Goldman Sachs.

Citi’s decision to speed up promotions comes as Wall Street banks push back against private equity firms recruiting junior bankers almost as soon as they arrive.

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