Three top Citigroup executives lost their jobs last night with immediate effect. The departures follow the US financial services giant's run-in with regulators over its Japanese private banking operation and its controversial European government bond trades.

Sir Deryck Maughan, Thomas Jones and Peter Scaturro have all left the bank, Citigroup chief executive Chuck Prince told staff in a memo circulated late on Tuesday. Sir Deryck was chairman of Citigroup International, Jones was head of asset management and Scaturro ran the group's private bank.