Citigroup Inc.'s investment banking business will shed as much as half of its 20,000 technology and operations staff in the next five years, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing Jamie Forese, the division's head.

Forese said the positions, which make up almost two-fifths of investment bank employees at Citi, could be replaced by machine processing, the FT reported

Citigroup was not immediately available for comment.