stylized
In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...
as citi) is an American multinational
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant
Citicorp
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...
and financial conglomerate
Travelers Group
The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...
in 1998; Travelers was subsequently spun off from the company in 2002. Citigroup owns Citicorp, the holding company for Citibank, as well as several international subsidiaries. Citigroup is
incorporated in Delaware
The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most imp ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
; alongside
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...
,
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
, and
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
, it is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is considered a
systemically important bank
A systemically important financial institution (SIFI) is a bank, insurance company, or other financial institution whose failure might trigger a financial crisis. They are colloquially referred to as "too big to fail".
As the financial crisis o ...
by the
Financial Stability Board
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum ...
and is commonly cited as being
too big to fail
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...
. It is one of the nine global investment banks in the Bulge Bracket.
Citigroup is ranked 33rd on the ''Fortune'' 500 as of 2021. Citigroup has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries. It has 223,400 employees, although it had 357,000 employees before the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
, when it was bailed out by a massive stimulus package from the U.S. government.
In 2020 it was one of the largest securities services providers, having over $23.6 trillion in assets under custody (AUC)
In February 2021 CEO Michael Corbat was replaced by Jane Fraser, who became the first woman CEO of a Big Four bank.
Current operations
Citigroup is the holding company for the following divisions:
* Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Limited (UK), and
Citigroup Global Markets Japan
is a financial services firm in Japan. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup Japan Holdings Corp., the main Japanese holding company of American financial firm Citigroup.
Nikko Cordial and Citigroup first established a joint venture ...
- broker-dealers, including one of 24
primary dealer
A primary dealer is a firm that buys government securities directly from a government, with the intention of reselling them to others, thus acting as a market maker of government securities. The government may regulate the behaviour and number of ...
s in
United States Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
securities.
** Citi's Institutional Clients Group (ICG) offers investment and corporate banking services and products for companies, governments, institutions, and ultra high-net-worth investors. ICG consists of the following five main divisions:
*** Capital Markets Origination is focused on the capital-raising needs such as public offerings, private placements, and special purpose acquisition companies.
*** Corporate & Investment Banking provides strategic and financing products and advisory services to multinational and local corporations, financial institutions, governments, and privately held businesses in more than 160 countries. It also provides client services such as mergers & acquisitions advice and underwriting of initial public offerings.
*** Markets & Securities Services integrates capabilities of Markets and Securities Services. It has over $13 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) with investor services and direct custody and clearing,
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...
and
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
servicing, and issuer businesses. It provides financial products through underwriting, sales & trading of a range of investment assets. Products offered include servicing of equities, commodities, credit, futures,
foreign exchange
The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...
(FX), emerging markets, G10 rates, municipals, prime finance/brokerage services, and securitized markets, such as
collateralized debt obligation
A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Le ...
s and
mortgage-backed securities
A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an 'instrument') which is secured by a mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals (a government agency or investment ba ...
. Its Citi Research team provides equity and fixed income research, company, sector, economic and geographic market analysis, and product-specific analysis for Citi's individual and institutional clients. Its flagship research reports include the following: Portfolio Strategist, Bond Market Roundup, U.S. Economics Weekly, International Market Roundup, Global Economic Outlook & Strategy and the Global Equity Strategist.
***
Citi Private Bank
Citi Private Bank, a subsidiary of multinational banking conglomerate Citigroup, markets Private banking services for ultra high-net-worth individual clients, including entrepreneurs and senior corporate executives. It has 60 offices in 23 count ...
advises professional investors, ultra high-net-worth individuals and families, and lawyers throughout the world. It uses an open architecture network of more than 800 private bankers and investment professionals across 46 countries and jurisdictions to provide clients access to global investment opportunities. It has over $250 billion in assets under management. The minimum net worth requirement is $25 million in liquid assets and is waived for only law firm groups and other clients under special circumstances.
*** Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) provides cash management, working capital and trade solutions to companies, governments, and other institutions in the U.S. and more than 140 countries. TTS intermediates more than $3 trillion in global transactions daily. It has about $377 billion in average liability balances, serves 99% of the world's Fortune 100 companies and ~85% of the world's Fortune 500 companies, and has 10 regional processing centers worldwide using global processes. Institutions use TTS to support their treasury operations with global solutions for payments, collections, liquidity, and investments by working in partnership with export credit agencies and development banks. It also sells supply chain financing products as well as medium- and long-term global financing programs across multiple industries. Clients doing business with Citi in 10 or more countries generate more than 60% of Transaction Services' total revenues.
*
Citibanamex
Grupo Financiero Banamex S.A. de C.V. has its origins and is the owner of the Banco Nacional de México or Citibanamex (formerly Banamex). It is the second-largest bank in Mexico. The Banamex Financial Group was purchased by Citigroup in August ...
- the second largest bank in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, purchased by Citigroup in 2001; it serves about 20 million clients.
*
Citicorp
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...
- the holding company for Citibank as well as several international banks. Citicorp contains two core businesses, Global Consumer Banking and Institutional Clients Group.
** Citibank Retail banking encompasses Citi's global branch network, branded Citibank. Citibank has more than 4,600 branches in the world and holds more than $300 billion in deposits. Citibank is the 4th largest retail bank in the United States based on deposits, and it has Citibank branded branches in countries throughout the world, with the exception of Mexico which is under a separate subsidiary called Banamex. Citibank offers checking and savings accounts, small business and commercial banking, and personal wealth management among its services. Citibank offers
Citigold
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
services worldwide to
mass affluent In marketing and financial services, mass affluent and emerging affluent are the high end of the mass market, or individuals with US$100,000 to US$1,000,000 of liquid financial assets plus an annual household income over US$75,000.
Mass affluent ...
clients with at least US$200,000 in liquid assets. In certain markets, Citigold Select is available for clients with at least US$500,000 in liquid assets. Its highest level of service, Citigold Private Client, is for high-net-worth individuals with at least $1–$3 million in liquid assets (depending on the market region) and offers access to investments and ideas from
Citi Private Bank
Citi Private Bank, a subsidiary of multinational banking conglomerate Citigroup, markets Private banking services for ultra high-net-worth individual clients, including entrepreneurs and senior corporate executives. It has 60 offices in 23 count ...
.
** Citi Branded Cards is the world's largest credit card issuer.
** Citi Retail Services is one of the largest providers of private label and co-branded credit cards, retail consulting services, and retail loyalty products in the U.S.
** Citi Commercial Bank serves 100,000 small to medium-size companies in 32 countries.
** CitiMortgage originates real estate mortgages.
History
Citigroup was formed on October 8, 1998, following the $140 billion merger of Citicorp and
Travelers Group
The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...
to create the world's largest financial services organization. The history of the company is divided into several firms that eventually amalgamated into Citicorp, a multinational banking corporation operating in more than 100 countries; or Travelers Group, whose businesses covered credit services, consumer finance, brokerage, and insurance. The company's history dates back to the founding of: the City Bank of New York (later Citibank) in 1812;
Bank Handlowy
Bank Handlowy w Warszawie (BHW) or Citi Handlowy is a Polish bank based in Warsaw, established in 1870. It is one of the oldest banks in Poland and Europe. It is the 10th largest bank in Poland in terms of assets, and 18th in terms of number of out ...
in 1870;
Smith Barney
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley.
On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...
in 1910.
Citicorp (1812–1985)
City Bank of New York
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Ba ...
was chartered by
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
on June 16, 1812, with $2 million of capital. Serving a group of New York merchants, the bank opened for business on September 14 of that year, and
Samuel Osgood
Samuel Osgood (February 3, 1747 – August 12, 1813) was an American merchant and statesman born in Andover, Massachusetts, currently a part of North Andover, Massachusetts. His family home still stands at 440 Osgood Street in North Andover ...
was elected as the first President of the company. The company's name was changed to The National City Bank of New York in 1865 after it joined the new U.S. national banking system, and it became the largest American bank by 1895. It became the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1913, and the following year it inaugurated the first overseas branch of a U.S. bank in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, although the bank had been active in plantation economies, such as the Cuban sugar industry, since the mid-19th century. The 1918 purchase of U.S. overseas bank International Banking Corporation helped it become the first American bank to surpass $1 billion in assets. During the
United States occupation of Haiti
The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the National City Bank of New York convinced the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, to take control of ...
and the bank's income from Haiti's loan debt related to the
Haiti indemnity controversy
The Haiti indemnity controversy involves an 1825 agreement between Haiti and France that included France demanding a 150 million franc indemnity to be paid by Haiti in claims over property – including Haitian slaves – that was lost through th ...
, the bank earned some of its largest gains in the 1920s due to debt payments from Haiti, becoming the largest commercial bank in the world in 1929. As it grew, the bank became an innovator in financial services, becoming the first major U.S. bank to offer compound interest on
saving
Saving is income not spent, or deferred consumption. Methods of saving include putting money aside in, for example, a deposit account, a pension account, an investment fund, or as cash. Saving also involves reducing expenditures, such as recur ...
checking accounts
A transaction account, also called a checking account, chequing account, current account, demand deposit account, or share draft account at credit unions, is a deposit account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the ...
(1936) and the negotiable certificate of deposit (1961).
The bank merged with First National Bank of New York in 1955, becoming the First National City Bank of New York in 1955. The "New York" was dropped in 1962 on the 150th anniversary of the company's foundation. The company organically entered the leasing and credit card sectors, and its introduction of U.S. dollar-denominated certificates of deposit in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
marked the first new negotiable instrument in the market since 1888. The bank introduced its First National City Charge Service credit card—popularly known as the " Everything card" and later to become MasterCard—in 1967. Also in 1967, First National City Bank was reorganized as a one-bank holding company, First National City Corporation, or "Citicorp" for short. The bank had been nicknamed "Citibank" since the 1860s when it began using this as an eight-letter wire code address.Citigroup at Reference for Business
In 1974, under the leadership of CEO
Walter B. Wriston
Walter Bigelow Wriston (August 3, 1919 – January 19, 2005) was a banker and former chairman and CEO of Citicorp. As chief executive of Citibank / Citicorp (later Citigroup) from 1967 to 1984, Wriston was widely regarded as the single most influe ...
, First National City Corporation changed its formal name to "Citicorp", with First National City Bank being formally renamed Citibank in 1976. Shortly afterwards, the bank launched the Citicard, which pioneered the use of 24-hour ATMs.
John S. Reed
John Shepard Reed is the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup. He is the past chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's board o ...
was elected CEO in 1984, and Citi became a founding member of the CHAPS clearing house in London. Under his leadership, the next 14 years would see Citibank become the largest bank in the United States and the largest issuer of credit cards and charge cards in the world, and expand its global reach to over 90 countries.
Credit cards
Credit cards at this time had an annual fee, which they raised more than once.
Travelers Group (1986–2007)
Travelers Group, at the time of the merger, was a diverse group of financial concerns that had been brought together under CEO
Sandy Weill
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
. Its roots came from Commercial Credit, a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation that was taken private by Weill in November 1986 after taking charge of the company earlier that year. Two years later, Weill mastered the buyout of
Primerica Financial Services
Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada.
Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Pri ...
—a conglomerate that had already bought life insurance company A L Williams as well as
brokerage firm
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
Smith Barney
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley.
On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...
. The new company took the Primerica name, and employed a "
cross-selling
Cross-selling is a sales technique involving the selling of an additional product or service to an existing customer. In practice, businesses define cross-selling in many different ways. Elements that might influence the definition might include ...
" strategy such that each of the entities within the parent company aimed to sell each other's services. Its non-financial businesses were spun off.
In September 1992,
Travelers Insurance
The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...
, which had suffered from poor real estate investments and sustained significant losses in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, formed a strategic alliance with Primerica that would lead to its amalgamation into a single company in December 1993. With the acquisition, the group became Travelers Inc. Property & casualty and life & annuities
underwriting
Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabili ...
capabilities were added to the business. Meanwhile, the distinctive Travelers red umbrella logo, which was also acquired in the deal, was applied to all the businesses within the newly named organization. During this period, Travelers acquired
Shearson Lehman
Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson—and merged it with Smith Barney.
Ownership of Salomon Brothers (1997–2003)
In November 1997, Travelers Group (which had been renamed again in April 1995 when they merged with Aetna Property and Casualty, Inc.), acquired
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street durin ...
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
, in a $9 billion transaction. This deal complemented Travelers/
Smith Barney
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley.
On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...
well as Salomon was focused on fixed-income and institutional clients, whereas Smith Barney was strong in equities and retail. Salomon Brothers absorbed Smith Barney into the new securities unit termed Salomon Smith Barney; a year later, the division incorporated Citicorp's former securities operations as well. The Salomon Smith Barney name was abandoned in October 2003 after a series of financial scandals that tarnished the bank's reputation.
Merger of Citicorp and Travelers (1998–2001)
On April 6, 1998, the merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group was announced to the world, creating a $140 billion firm with assets of almost $700 billion. The deal would enable Travelers to market mutual funds and insurance to Citicorp's retail customers while giving the banking divisions access to an expanded client base of investors and insurance buyers.
In the transaction, Travelers Group acquired all Citicorp shares for $70 billion in stock, issuing 2.5 new Citigroup shares for each Citicorp share. Existing shareholders of each company owned about half of the new firm. While the new company maintained Citicorp's "Citi" brand in its name, it adopted Travelers' distinctive "red umbrella" as the new corporate logo, which was used until 2007.
The chairmen of both parent companies,
John S. Reed
John Shepard Reed is the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup. He is the past chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's board o ...
and
Sandy Weill
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
respectively, were announced as co-chairmen and co-CEOs of the new company, Citigroup, Inc., although the vast difference in management styles between the two immediately presented question marks over the wisdom of such a setup.
The remaining provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act—enacted following the Great Depression—forbade banks to merge with insurance underwriters, and meant Citigroup had between two and five years to divest any prohibited assets. Weill stated at the time of the merger that they believed "that over that time the legislation will change ... we have had enough discussions to believe this will not be a problem". Indeed, the passing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in November 1999 vindicated Reed and Weill's views, opening the door to financial services conglomerates offering a mix of commercial banking, investment banking, insurance underwriting, and brokerage.
Joe J. Plumeri worked on the post-merger integration of the two companies and was appointed CEO of Citibank North America by Weill and Reed. He oversaw its network of 450
branches
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually r ...
. J. Paul Newsome, an analyst with
CIBC Oppenheimer
CIBC Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in Canadian and global equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety of financial ...
, said: "He's not the spit-and-polish executive many people expected. He's rough on the edges. But Citibank knows the bank as an institution is in trouble—it can't get away anymore with passive selling—and Plumeri has all the passion to throw a glass of cold water on the bank." Plumeri boosted the unit's earnings from $108 million to $415 million in one year, an increase of nearly 300%. He unexpectedly retired from Citibank in January 2000.
In 2000, Citigroup acquired Associates First Capital Corporation for $31.1 billion in stock, which, until 1989, had been owned by
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company ...
Ford Motor Credit Company
Ford Motor Credit Company LLC, d/b/a Ford Credit, is the financial services arm of Ford Motor Company, and is headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan.
The predominant share of Ford Credit's business consists of financing Ford and Lincoln vehicles an ...
. The Associates was widely criticized for predatory lending practices and Citi eventually settled with the Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to pay $240 million to customers who had been victims of a variety of predatory practices, including "flipping" mortgages, "packing" mortgages with optional credit insurance, and deceptive marketing practices.
In 2001, Citigroup made additional acquisitions:
European American Bank
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerat ...
, in July, for $1.9 billion, and Banamex in August, for $12.5 billion.
Spin-off of Travelers (2002)
The company spun off its Travelers Property and Casualty insurance underwriting business in 2002. The spin-off was prompted by the insurance unit's drag on Citigroup stock price because Travelers earnings were more seasonal and vulnerable to large disasters and events such as the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. It was also difficult to sell insurance directly to its customers since most customers were accustomed to purchasing insurance through a broker.
Travelers merged with The St. Paul Companies Inc. in 2004 forming The St. Paul Travelers Companies. Citigroup retained the life insurance and annuities underwriting businesses until it sold them to MetLife in 2005. Citigroup still sells life insurance through Citibank, but it no longer underwrites insurance.
In spite of divesting Travelers Insurance, Citigroup retained Travelers' signature red umbrella logo as its own until February 2007, when Citigroup agreed to sell the logo back to St. Paul Travelers, which renamed itself Travelers Companies. Citigroup also decided to adopt the corporate brand "Citi" for itself and virtually all its subsidiaries, except Primerica and Banamex.
Subprime mortgage crisis (2007)
Heavy exposure to troubled mortgages in the form of
collateralized debt obligation
A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Le ...
(CDOs), compounded by poor risk management, led Citigroup into trouble as the subprime mortgage crisis worsened in 2007. The company had used elaborate mathematical risk models which looked at mortgages in particular geographical areas, but never included the possibility of a national housing downturn or the prospect that millions of mortgage holders would default on their mortgages. Trading head Thomas Maheras was close friends with senior risk officer David Bushnell, which undermined risk oversight. As Treasury Secretary,
Robert Rubin
Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...
was said to be influential in lifting the Glass–Steagall Act that allowed Travelers and Citicorp to merge in 1998. Then on the board of directors of Citigroup, Rubin and Charles Prince were said to be influential in pushing the company towards
MBS
MBS may refer for:
People
* Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia
* Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician
Places
* MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US
* Mari ...
and CDOs in the subprime mortgage market.
Starting in June 2006, Senior Vice President
Richard M. Bowen III Richard M. Bowen III is an American banker who blew the whistle on mortgage fraud at Citigroup that helped trigger the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
A senior vice president at Citigroup, Bowen served as the chief underwriter of the financial servic ...
, the chief underwriter of Citigroup's Consumer Lending Group, began warning the board of directors about the extreme risks being taken on by the mortgage operation that could potentially result in massive losses. The group bought and sold $90 billion of residential mortgages annually. Bowen's responsibility was essential to serve as the quality control supervisor ensuring the unit's creditworthiness. When Bowen first became a
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
in 2006, 60% of the mortgages were defective. The number of bad mortgages began increasing throughout 2007 and eventually exceeded 80% of the volume. Many of the mortgages were not only defective but were a result of
mortgage fraud
Mortgage fraud refers to an intentional misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission of information relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan secured by real property.
Criminal offenses may be prosecuted in eith ...
. Bowen attempted to rouse the board via weekly reports and other communications. On November 3, 2007, Bowen emailed Citigroup Chairman
Robert Rubin
Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...
and the bank's chief financial officer, head auditor, and the chief risk management officer to again expose the risk and potential losses, claiming that the group's internal controls had broken down and requesting an outside investigation of his business unit. The subsequent investigation revealed that the Consumer Lending Group had suffered a breakdown of internal controls since 2005. Despite the findings of the investigation, Bowen's charges were ignored, even though withholding such information from shareholders violated the
Sarbanes–Oxley Act
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations.
The act, (), also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protect ...
(SOX), which he had pointed out. Citigroup CEO
Charles Prince
Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chair ...
signed a certification that the bank was in compliance with SOX despite Bowen revealing this wasn't so. Citigroup eventually stripped Bowen of most of his responsibilities and informed him that his physical presence was no longer required at the bank. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission asked him to testify about Citigroup's role in the mortgage crisis, and he did so, appearing as one of the first witnesses before the Commission in April 2010.
As the crisis began to unfold, Citigroup announced on April 11, 2007, that it would eliminate 17,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workforce, in a broad restructuring designed to cut costs and bolster its long underperforming stock. Even after
securities
A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
and
brokerage
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...
firm
Bear Stearns
The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The comp ...
ran into serious trouble in summer 2007, Citigroup decided the possibility of trouble with its CDOs was so tiny (less than 1/100 of 1%) that they excluded them from their risk analysis. With the crisis worsening, Citigroup announced on January 7, 2008, that it was considering cutting another 5 percent to 10 percent of its 327,000 member-workforce.
Collapse and US government intervention (2008)
By July 2008 Citigroup was described as struggling, and by November they were insolvent, despite their receipt of $25 billion in taxpayer-funded federal
Troubled Asset Relief Program
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...
funds. On November 17, 2008, Citigroup announced plans for about 52,000 new job cuts, on top of 23,000 cuts already made during 2008 in a huge job cull resulting from four quarters of consecutive losses and reports that it was unlikely to be in profit again before 2010. The same day on Wall Street markets responded, with shares falling and dropping the company's market capitalization to $6 billion, down from $300 billion two years prior. Eventually staff cuts totaled over 100,000 employees. Its stock market value dropped to $20.5 billion, down from $244 billion two years earlier. Shares of Citigroup common stock traded well below $1.00 on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...
.
As a result, late in the evening on November 23, 2008, Citigroup and Federal regulators approved a plan to stabilize the company and forestall a further deterioration in the company's value. On November 24, 2008, the U.S. government announced a massive bailout for Citigroup designed to rescue the company from bankruptcy while giving the government a major say in its operations. A joint statement by the
US Treasury Department
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
, the
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
and the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...
(FDIC) announced: "With these transactions, the U.S. government is taking the actions necessary to strengthen the financial system and protect U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. economy."
TARP funding
Citi received the largest amount of TARP funding, "a larger bailout than any other U.S. bank." The bailout called for the government to back about $306 billion in loans and securities and directly invest about $20 billion in the company. The Treasury provided $20 billion in
Troubled Asset Relief Program
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President ...
(TARP) funds in addition to $25 billion given in October. The Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC agreed to cover 90% of the losses on Citigroup's $335 billion portfolio after Citigroup absorbed the first $29 billion in losses. The Treasury would assume the first $5 billion in losses; the FDIC would absorb the next $10 billion; then the Federal Reserve would assume the rest of the risk. The assets remained on Citigroup's balance sheet; the technical term for this arrangement is ring fencing.
In return, the bank gave the U.S. Treasury $27 billion of preferred shares and warrants to acquire
common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...
. The government obtained wide powers over banking operations. Citigroup agreed to try to modify mortgages, using standards set up by the FDIC after the collapse of
IndyMac Bank
IndyMac, a contraction of Independent National Mortgage Corporation, was an American bank based in California that failed in 2008 and was seized by the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Before its failure, IndyMac Ban ...
, with the goal of keeping as many homeowners as possible in their houses. Executive salaries would be capped. As a condition of the federal assistance, Citigroup's dividend payment was reduced to $0.01 per share.
In a ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' op-ed, Michael Lewis and David Einhorn described the November 2008 $306 billion guarantee as "an undisguised gift" without any real crisis motivating it.
According to ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', the government aid provided to Citi in 2008/2009 was provided to prevent a worldwide chaos and panic by the potential collapse of its Global Transactions Services (now TTS) division. According to the article, former CEO Pandit said if Citigroup was allowed to unravel into bankruptcy, "100 governments around the world would be trying to figure out how to pay their employees".
According to New York Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...
, Citigroup paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to more than 1,038 of its employees after it had received its $45 billion TARP funds in late 2008. This included 738 employees each receiving $1 million in bonuses, 176 employees each receiving $2 million bonuses, 124 each receiving $3 million in bonuses, and 143 each receiving bonuses of $4 million to more than $10 million. As a result of the criticism and the U.S. Government's majority holding of Citigroup's
common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...
, compensation and bonuses were restricted from February 2009 until December 2010.
In 2009, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citi Private Bank, stopped paying its bankers with a commission for selling investment products, in a move to bolster Citi Private Bank's reputation as an independent wealth management adviser, as opposed to a product pusher.
Creation of Citi Holdings (2009)
On January 16, 2009, Citigroup announced its intention to reorganize itself into two operating units: Citicorp for its retail and institutional client business, and Citi Holdings for its brokerage and asset management. Citigroup will continue to operate as a single company for the time being, but Citi Holdings managers will be tasked to "take advantage of value-enhancing disposition and combination opportunities as they emerge", and eventual spin-offs or mergers involving either operating unit were not ruled out. Citi Holdings consists of Citi businesses that Citi wants to sell and are not considered part of Citi's core businesses. The majority of its assets are U.S. mortgages. It was created in the wake of the financial crisis as part of Citi's restructuring plan. It consists of several business entities including remaining interests in local consumer lending such as OneMain Financial, divestitures such as Smith Barney, and a special asset pool. Citi Holdings represents $156 billion of GAAP assets, or ~8% of Citigroup; 59% represents North American mortgages, 18% operating businesses, 13% special asset pool, and 10% categorized as other. Operating businesses include OneMain Financial ($10B), PrimeRe ($7B), MSSB JV ($8B) and Spain / Greece retail ($4B), less associated loan loss reserves. While Citi Holdings is a mixed bag, its primary objective is to wind down some non-core businesses and reduce assets, and strategically "breaking even" in 2015.
On February 27, 2009, Citigroup announced that the U.S. government would take a 36% equity stake in the company by converting US$25 billion in emergency aid into
common stock
Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...
with a
United States Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
credit line of $45 billion to prevent the bankruptcy of the company. The government guaranteed losses on more than $300 billion of troubled assets and injected $20 billion immediately into the company. The salary of the CEO was set at $1 per year and the highest salary of employees was restricted to $500,000. Any compensation amount above $500,000 had to be paid with
restricted stock
Restricted stock, also known as restricted securities, is stock of a company that is not fully transferable (from the stock-issuing company to the person receiving the stock award) until certain conditions (restrictions) have been met. Upon satisfa ...
that could not be sold by the employee until the emergency government aid was repaid in full. The U.S. government also gained control of half the seats in the Board of Directors, and the senior management was subjected to removal by the US government if there were poor performance. By December 2009, the U.S. government stake was reduced from a 36% stake to a 27% stake, after Citigroup sold $21 billion of common shares and equity in the largest single share sale in U.S. history, surpassing Bank of America's $19 billion share sale 1 month prior. By December 2010, Citigroup repaid the emergency aid in full and the U.S. government had made a $12 billion profit on its investment in the company. Government restrictions on pay and oversight of the senior management were removed after the U.S. government sold its remaining 27% stake in December 2010.
On June 1, 2009, it was announced that Citigroup would be removed from the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
effective June 8, 2009, due to significant government ownership. Citigroup was replaced by Travelers Co.
Sale of Smith Barney (2009)
Smith Barney, Citi's global private wealth management unit, provided brokerage, investment banking and asset management services to corporations, governments and individuals around the world. With over 800 offices worldwide, Smith Barney held 9.6 million domestic client accounts, representing $1.562 trillion in client assets worldwide.
On January 13, 2009, Citi announced the merger of Smith Barney with
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley.
On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...
. Citi received $2.7 billion and a 49% interest in the joint venture.
In June 2013, Citi sold its remaining 49% stake in Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management for $13.5 billion following an appraisal by Perella Weinberg.
Return to profitability, denationalization (2010)
In 2010, Citigroup achieved its first profitable year since 2007. It reported $10.6 billion in net profit, compared with a $1.6 billion loss in 2009. Late in 2010, the government sold its remaining stock holding in the company, yielding an overall net profit to taxpayers of $12 billion. A special IRS tax exception given to Citi allowed the US Treasury to sell its shares at a profit, while it still owned Citigroup shares, which eventually netted $12 billion. According to Treasury spokeswoman Nayyera Haq, "This (IRS tax) rule was designed to stop corporate raiders from using loss corporations to evade taxes and was never intended to address the unprecedented situation where the government owned shares in banks. And it was certainly not written to prevent the government from selling its shares for a profit."
Expansion of retail banking operations (2011)
In 2011, Citi was the first bank to introduce digitized Smart Banking branches in Washington, D.C., New York, Tokyo and Busan (South Korea) while it continued renovating its entire branch network. New sales and service centers were also opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Citi Express modules, 24-hour service units, were introduced in Colombia. Citi opened additional branches in China, expanding its branch presence to 13 cities in China.
Expansion of credit card operations (2011)
Citi Branded Cards introduced several new products in 2011, including: Citi ThankYou, Citi Executive/
AAdvantage
AAdvantage is the frequent-flyer program of American Airlines. Launched May 1, 1981, it was the second such loyalty program in the world (after the first at Texas International Airlines in 1979) and remains the largest, with more than 67 milli ...
and Citi Simplicity cards in the U.S. It also has Latin America partnership cards with Colombia-based airline Avianca and with Banamex and AeroMexico; and a merchant loyalty program in Europe. Citibank is also the first and currently the only international bank to be approved by Chinese regulators to issue credit cards under its own brand without cooperating with Chinese state-owned domestic banks.
Chinese investment banking joint venture (2012)
In 2012, the Global Markets division and Orient Securities formed Citi Orient Securities, a Shanghai-based equity and debt brokerage operating in the Chinese market.
Federal Reserve stress tests (2012–2016)
On March 13, 2012, the Federal Reserve reported Citigroup is one of the four financial institutions, out of 19 major banks, that failed its stress tests, designed to measure bank capital during a financial crisis. The 2012 stress tests determined whether banks could withstand a financial crisis that has unemployment at 13%, stock prices to be cut in half, and home prices decreased by 21%. Citi failed the Fed stress tests due to Citi's high capital return plan and its international loans, which were rated by the Fed to be at higher risk than its domestic American loans. Citi received half of its revenues from its international businesses. In comparison,
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
, which passed the stress test and did not ask for a capital return to investors, received 78% of its revenue in the United States.
By June 2012, the year of Citi's 200th anniversary, Citigroup had built up $420 billion in surplus
cash reserve
In financial accounting, reserve always has a credit balance and can refer to a part of shareholders' equity, a liability for estimated claims, or contra-asset for uncollectible accounts.
A reserve can appear in any part of shareholders' equity e ...
s and government securities. As of March 31, 2012, Citi had a
Tier 1 capital
Tier 1 capital is the core measure of a bank's financial strength from a regulator's point of view.By definition of Bank for International Settlements. It is composed of ''core capital'', which consists primarily of common stock and disclosed res ...
ratio of 12.4%. This was a result of selling more than $500 billion of its special assets placed in Citi Holdings, which were guaranteed from losses by the US Treasury while under federal majority ownership.
In 2013, Sanjiv Das was replaced as head of CitiMortgage with Jane Fraser, former head of Citi Private Bank.
On March 26, 2014, the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the m ...
reported that Citigroup was one of the 5 financial institutions that failed its stress tests. Unlike in the failed stress test in 2012, Citigroup failed on qualitative concerns that were unresolved despite regulatory warnings. The report specifically stated that Citigroup failed "to project revenues and losses under a stressful scenario for material parts of the firm's global operations and its ability to develop scenarios for its internal stress testing that adequately reflects its full range business activities and exposures."
On March 11, 2015, Citi has passed its first CCAR test, allowing it to raise its dividend to 5 cent a share and unveiling a plan for a $7.8 billion share repurchase.
In February 2016, the company was subject to a lawsuit as a result of the bankruptcy of a Mexican oil services firm.
In April 2016, Citigroup announced that it would eliminate its bad bank, Citi Holdings.
On June 23, 2016, Federal Reserve handed Citi a passing grade on its stress test the second time in a row, giving permission to triple its dividend to 16 cents a share and approving an $8.6 billion stock repurchase program,
Spin-off of Napier Park Global Capital (2013)
Citi Capital Advisors (CCA), formerly Citi Alternative Investments, was a
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...
that offered various investment strategies across multiple asset classes. To comply with the
Volcker Rule
The Volcker Rule iof the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (). The rule was originally proposed by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to restrict United States banks from ma ...
, which limits bank ownership in hedge funds to no more than 3%, Citi spun off its hedge fund unit in 2013 and gave a majority of the company to its managers. The spin-off of CCA created Napier Park Global Capital, a $6.8 billion hedge fund with more than 100 employees in New York and London and managed by Jim O'Brien and Jonathan Dorfman.
Downsizing of consumer banking unit (2014)
In October 2014, Citigroup announced its exit from consumer banking in 11 markets, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Japan, Guam, the Czech Republic, Egypt, South Korea (consumer finance only), and Hungary.
2015 onwards
In May 2015, the bank announced the sale of its margin foreign exchange business, including CitiFX Pro and TradeStream, to
FXCM
FXCM, also known as Forex Capital Markets, is a retail foreign exchange broker for trading on the foreign exchange market. FXCM allows people to speculate on the foreign exchange market and provides trading in contract for difference (CFDs) ...
and
SAXO Bank
Saxo Bank is a Danish investment bank specializing in online trading and investment. It was founded as a brokerage firm in 1992, under the name Midas Fondsmæglerselskab (English: ''Midas Stockbroker Company''), by Lars Seier Christensen, Kim F ...
of
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
. Despite this deal, industry surveys pegged Citi as the biggest banking player in the forex market. The company's remaining foreign exchange sales & trading businesses continued operating in the wake of this deal under the leadership of James Bindler, who succeeded Jeff Feig as the firm's global head of foreign exchange in 2014.
In November 2015,
Springleaf
OneMain Holdings, Inc. is an American financial services holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, with central offices throughout the United States. The company wholly owns OneMain Finance Corporation and its subsidiaries, through w ...
acquired
OneMain Financial
OneMain Holdings, Inc. is an American financial services holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, with central offices throughout the United States. The company wholly owns OneMain Finance Corporation and its subsidiaries, through w ...
from Citigroup.
In February 2016, Citi sold its retail and commercial banking operations in Panama and Costa Rica to the
Bank of Nova Scotia
The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
(Scotiabank) for $360 million. The operations sold include 27 branches serving approximately 250,000 clients. Citi continues to offer corporate and institutional banking and wealth management in Panama and Costa Rica. On April 1, Citigroup became the exclusive issuer of Costco-branded credit cards. In April 2016, Citi was given regulatory approval for its "living will", its plans to shut down operations in the event of another financial crisis.
In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Citi provided support to cardholders including waiving late fees. It also announced that some lower paid employees would receive a one-off payment of US$1,000 to help them through the crisis. This was not just limited to the US. In Singapore where Citi had a large operation, low paid staff would receive S$1,200.
In August 2020, Citi mistakenly wired $900 million to the creditors of one of its clients, the American cosmetics corporation
Revlon
Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brother ...
. Citi sued to get most of the money back but as of June 2022 had been unsuccessful. In October, the same year, Citigroup was fined $400 million by the US bank regulators as a result of their risk in control systems and was ordered to update their technology. The company will have four months to make a new plan and submit it to the Federal Reserve.
Combination of Markets & Securities Services (2019)
In 2019, Citi combined its Global Markets and Securities Services business into Markets & Securities Services, which includes broad trading and execution capabilities in addition to custody, clearing, financing and hedging services.
Shrinking of consumer banking unit (2021–2022)
In April 2021, Citi announced it would exit its consumer banking operations in 13 markets, including Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Citi will continue to operate its consumer banking businesses in the USA, Canada, Europe and in only 4 other markets: Hong Kong, Singapore, London and the UAE across the entire APAC and EMEA regions.
In January 2022, Citi further announced its plan to exit consumer banking in Mexico, as well as small-business and middle-market banking operations. On March 1, 2022, Citi disclosed an exposure of over $10bn in Russian assets, which may be materially affected by Russia's expulsion from the
SWIFT
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
banking system.
In September 2022, Citi was planning to shutter its retail bank business in the United Kingdom.
Involvement in controlling the sale of guns
In 2018 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported about Citi's actions, under the direction of CEO
Michael Corbat
Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".
Early life and ...
, to intervene in the matter of gun control. In particular, their credit card policies were set to restrict the sale of guns below age 21.
Offices
New York City
Citigroup Center
The Citigroup Center (formerly Citicorp Center and also known by its address, 601 Lexington Avenue) is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1977 to house the headquarters of Citibank, it is t ...
, a diagonal-roof skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, is Citigroup's most famous office building, which despite popular belief is not the company's headquarters building. Citigroup has its headquarters located in downtown Tribeca (388 Greenwich). Citigroup also owns a building in
Tribeca, Manhattan
Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...
at
388 Greenwich Street
388 Greenwich Street, originally called the Shearson Lehman Plaza and more recently the Travelers Building, is a skyscraper at 388 Greenwich Street, with frontages on North Moore and West Streets, in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhat ...
that serves as headquarters for its Investment and Corporate Banking operations and was the former headquarters of the Travelers Group.
All of Citigroup's New York City real estate, excluding the company's Smith Barney division and Wall Street trading division, lies along the New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line, served by the . Consequently, the company's Midtown buildings—including 787 Seventh Avenue, 666 Fifth Avenue, 399 Park Avenue, 485 Lexington, 153 East 53rd Street (Citigroup Center) in Manhattan, and
One Court Square
One Court Square, also known as the Citigroup Building, is a 50-story office tower in Long Island City, Queens across the East River from Manhattan in New York City. It was completed in 1989 by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP for Citigroup. T ...
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, are all on the short four-stop corridor of the Queens Boulevard Line between
Court Square
Court Square in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, is a park and historic district in the heart of Springfield's urban Metro Center neighborhood. Court Square is the City of Springfield's only topographical constant since its founding ...
Citi Field
Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...
, the home ballpark of the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
team, via a $400 million, 20-year deal that commenced with the stadium opening in 2009.
Chicago
Citicorp Center in Chicago has a series of curved archways at its peak, and sits across the street from major competitor
ABN AMRO
ABN or abn may refer to:
Companies
* ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group
* ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank
* Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank
Radio, news and television organizat ...
's
ABN AMRO Plaza
540 West Madison, formerly known as ABN AMRO Plaza, is an office building located in the West Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The building was built for ABN AMRO, parent company of Chicago financial institution LaSalle Bank. To the ...
. It has shops and restaurants serving
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. ...
customers via the
Ogilvie Transportation Center
The Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center (; formerly Chicago and North Western Terminal) is a commuter rail terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the terminus for the three commuter rail lines of Metra's Union Pacific District to Chica ...
.
Sioux Falls
Citibank moved its credit card operations to
Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
in 1981 after that state eliminated caps on interest rates. In 2013, Citibank employed 2,900 in Sioux Falls and is one of the largest employers in the city. In 2018, they began building a new headquarters that will be 150,000 square feet of office space on a 19-acre campus.
Regulatory action, lawsuits, and arbitration
In 2004, Japanese regulators took action against Citibank Japan loaning to a customer involved in stock manipulation. The regulator suspended bank activities in one branch and three offices and restricted their consumer banking division. In 2009, Japanese regulators again took action against Citibank Japan, because the bank had not set up an effective money laundering monitoring system. The regulators suspended sales operations within Citibank's retail banking for a month.
On March 23, 2005, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the former name of the American self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers, now known as the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associat ...
(FInRA) announced total fines of $21.25 million against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., American Express Financial Advisors and Chase Investment Services regarding suitability and supervisory violations of their mutual fund sales practices between January 2002 and July 2003. The case against Citigroup involved recommendations and sales of Class B and Class C shares of mutual funds.
On June 6, 2007, FInRA announced more than $15 million in fines and restitution against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., to settle charges related to misleading documents and inadequate disclosure in retirement seminars and meetings for BellSouth Corp. employees in North Carolina and South Carolina. FInRA found that Citigroup did not properly supervise a team of brokers located in Charlotte, N.C., who used misleading sales materials during dozens of seminars and meetings for hundreds of BellSouth employees.
In July 2010, Citigroup agreed to pay $75 million to settle civil charges that it misled investors over potential losses from high-risk mortgages. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
said that Citigroup had made misleading statements about the company's exposure to subprime mortgages. In 2007, Citigroup indicated that its exposure was less than $13 billion, when in fact it was over $50 billion.
In April 2011, an arbitration panel ordered Citigroup Inc to pay $54.1 million for losses from municipal securities funds that cratered between 2007 and 2008.
In August 2012, Citigroup agreed to pay almost $25 million to settle an investor lawsuit alleging the bank misled investors about the nature of mortgage-backed securities. The lawsuit was on behalf of investors who purchased certificates in one of two mortgage-backed securities trusts from Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust Inc in 2007.
In February 2012, Citigroup agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle claims that it falsely certified the quality of loans issued by its CitiMortgage unit over a period of more than six years, so that they would qualify for insurance from the
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part by ...
. The lawsuit was initially brought by Sherry Hunt, a CitiMortgage employee.
On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) agreed to a historic settlement with the federal government and 49 states. The settlement, known as the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), required the servicers to provide about $26 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and in-direct payments to the states and the federal government. This settlement amount makes the NMS the second largest civil settlement in U.S. history, only trailing the
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was entered on November 23, 1998, originally between the four largest United States tobacco companies ( Philip Morris Inc., R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard – the "original participati ...
. The five banks were also required to comply with 305 new mortgage servicing standards. Oklahoma held out and agreed to settle with the banks separately.
In 2014, Citigroup agreed to pay $7 billion to resolve claims it misled investors about shoddy mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said "The bank's misconduct was egregious. ... As a result of their assurances that toxic financial products were sound, Citigroup was able to expand its market share and increase profits" and that "the settlement did not absolve the bank or its employees from facing criminal charges."
In July 2015, Citigroup was fined $70 million by the
United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...
and the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, regulate, and supervise all natio ...
, and ordered to pay $700 million to customers. Citigroup had conducted illegal practices in marketing add-on products for credit cards, including credit monitoring, debt-protection products and wallet-protection services.
In January 2017, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. was fined $25 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for order spoofing in U.S. Treasury futures markets, i.e., placing orders that were intended to be canceled before execution, and for failing to diligently supervise its employees with regard to spoofing.
Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing bankruptcies
On October 22, 2001, Citigroup was sued for violating federal securities laws by misrepresenting Citigroup's
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...
-related exposure in its 2001 Annual Report and elsewhere, and failing to disclose the true extent of Citigroup's legal liability arising out of its 'structured finance' deals with Enron. In 2003, Citigroup paid $145 million in fines and penalties to settle claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Manhattan district attorney's office.
In 2004, Citigroup paid $2.65 billion pre-tax, or $1.64 billion after-tax, to settle a lawsuit concerning its role in selling stocks and bonds for
WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
, the second largest telecommunications company in the world, which collapsed after an
accounting scandal
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...
.
On February 5, 2002, Citigroup was sued for violating federal securities laws and misleading investors by issuing false information about
Global Crossing
Global Crossing was a telecommunications company that provided computer networking services and operated a tier 1 carrier. It maintained a large backbone network and offered peering, virtual private networks, leased lines, audio and video con ...
's revenues and financial performance. In 2005, Citigroup paid $75 million to settle the lawsuit. Citigroup was accused of issuing exaggerated research reports and not disclosing conflicts of interest.
In 2005, Citigroup paid $2 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by investors in
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...
. In 2008, Citi also agreed to pay $1.66 billion to Enron creditors.
On November 8, 2007, Citigroup was sued for financial misrepresentations and omissions of what amounted to more than two years of income and an entire line of business. In 2012, the company paid $590 million to settle the case.
Senior leadership
* ''Chairman'': John Dugan (since January 2019)
* ''Chief executive officer'': Jane Fraser (since March 2021)
* ''Chief financial officer'': Mark Mason (since February 2019)
* ''Chief Compliance Officer'': Mary McNiff (since June 2020)
List of former chairmen
''This list only contains chairmen since the formation of Citigroup in 1998; for a full list of chairmen including Citigroup's predecessors, please see List of chairmen of Citigroup.''
# John Reed and
Sandy Weill
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
(1998–2000)
#
Sandy Weill
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
(2000–2006)
#
Charles Prince
Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chair ...
''This list only contains chief executives since the formation of Citigroup in 1998.''
#
Sandy Weill
Sandy may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Sandy (surname), a list of people
*Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983)
*(Sandy) A ...
(1998–2003)
#
Charles Prince
Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chair ...
(2003–2007)
#
Vikram Pandit
Vikram Shankar Pandit (born 14 January 1957) is an Indian-American banker and investor who was the chief executive officer of Citigroup from December 2007 to 16 October 2012 and is the current chairman and chief executive officer of The Oroge ...
(2007–2012)
#
Michael Corbat
Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".
Early life and ...
(2012–2021)
CEO-to-worker pay ratio
Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, publicly traded companies are required to disclose (1) the median total annual compensation of all employees other than the CEO and (2) the ratio of the CEO's annual total compensation to that of the median employee.
Total 2018 compensation for
Michael Corbat
Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".
Early life and ...
, CEO, amounted to $24,195,749, and total compensation of the median employee was determined to be $49,766. The resulting pay ratio is estimated to be 486:1.
Criticism
Criminal cartel charges in Australia
On June 1, 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that criminal cartel charges are expected to be laid by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) against ANZ Bank, its Group Treasurer Rick Moscati, along with Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and a number of individuals.
Conflicts of interest on investment research
In December 2002, Citigroup paid fines totaling $400 million, to states and the federal government as part of a settlement involving charges that ten banks, including Citigroup, deceived investors with biased research. The total settlement with the ten banks was $1.4 billion. The settlement required that the banks separate investment banking from research, and ban any allocation of IPO shares.
Citigroup proprietary government bond trading scandal of 2004
Citigroup was criticized for disrupting the European
bond market
The bond market (also debt market or credit market) is a financial market where participants can issue new debt, known as the primary market, or buy and sell debt securities, known as the secondary market. This is usually in the form of bonds, bu ...
by rapidly selling €11 billion worth of bonds on August 2, 2004, on the MTS Group trading platform, driving down the price and then buying it back at cheaper prices.
A leaked 2005 report prepared by ''Citi'' global strategists for their investor clients documented the imbalance of wealth between the top 1% and the bottom 60% of
Anglo-American (viz. United States, United Kingdom, and Canada) households. Six drivers and other economic measurements, such as income and savings rates were also studied and included, in what was described as "an ongoing io-echnological revolution; capitalist-friendly governments and tax regimes"
both powered by and consumed by the wealthy;Ajay Kapur, Niall Macleod, and Narendra Singh (2005): "Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances".
the
Middle Class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
was not its focus.
2001-2009
;''Terra Securities scandal'': In November 2007 it became public that Citigroup was heavily involved in the
Terra Securities scandal
The Terra Securities scandal was a scandal that became public in November 2007. It involved highly speculative investments by eight municipalities of Norway in various hedge funds in the United States bond market.Mark Landler"U.S. Credit Crisis Ad ...
;''Allegations of theft from customer accounts'': In August 2008, Citigroup agreed to pay nearly $18 million in refunds and fines to settle accusations by California Attorney General
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...
;''Shareholder rejection of executive compensation plan'': At Citi's 2012 annual shareholders' meeting on April 17, Citi's executive compensation package was rejected, with approximately 55% of the votes being against approval. One of the largest and most activist of the shareholders ovoting no, the
California Public Employees' Retirement System
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.5 million California public employees, retirees, and their families".CalPERSFa ...
, stated Citi "has not anchored rewards to performance".
Accusations of futures market manipulation
In January 2017, bank regulators fined Citigroup $25 million on account of five traders from the bank having manipulated U.S. Treasury futures more than 2,500 times between July 2011 and December 2012. Citigroup was criticized for failing to adequately supervise its traders and for not having systems in place to detect spoofing, which involves entering fake orders designed to fool others into thinking prices are poised to rise or fall.
Alleged money laundering by Raul Salinas
In 1998, the
General Accounting Office
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...
issued a report critical of Citibank's handling of funds received from Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of
Carlos Salinas
Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wo ...
, the former president of Mexico. The report, titled "Raul Salinas, Citibank and Alleged Money Laundering", indicated that Citibank facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars through complex financial transactions that hid the funds' paper trail. The report indicated that Citibank took on Salinas as a client without making a thorough inquiry as to how he made his fortune, an omission that a Citibank official called a violation of the bank's "know your customer" policy.
2020s
;''Failure to establish effective risk management'': In 2020 Citigroup agreed to pay $400 million to federal regulators over long-standing concerns regarding Citigroup's failure to establish effective risk management. The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said that Citi had engaged in "unsafe and unsound banking practices." According to them, Citi had failed to correct problems that had bee known for years
;''Failure to match paternity and maternity leave'': In 2020 Citi touted a big increase of its paternity leave when the company raised it to 4 weeks in Singapore. Citi claimed it would drive greater gender equality. This compares with the ''New York Times'', which offer a minimum 10 weeks paternity leave for its American staff.
Communications
Lobbying
Between 1998 and 2014, Citigroup spent nearly $100 million lobbying the federal government. As of 2008, Citigroup was the 16th largest political campaign contributor in the US, out of all organizations, according to
OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...
. From 1989 to 2006, members of the firm donated over $23,033,490, 49% of which went to Democrats and 51% of which went to Republicans.
Matthew Vadum, a senior editor at the conservative Capital Research Center, acknowledged these figures, but pointed out that Citigroup had been "a longtime donor to left-wing pressure groups", and referred to a Capital Research Center Foundation Watch 2006 study of Fortune 100 foundation giving, where Citigroup's foundation gave "20 times more money to groups on the left than to groups on the right" during the tax year 2003.
In 2014 Citigroup's PAC contributed $804,000 to campaigns of various members of Congress, i.e. 162 members of the House, including 72 Democrats, where donations averaged about $5,000 per candidate. Of the 57 Democrats supporting the 2015 Spending bill, 34 had received campaign cash from Citigroup's PAC at some point since 2010. Citigroup's 2014 donations favored Republicans only slightly. The bank's PAC had been nearly as generous to Democrats as Republicans – $30,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (the maximum) and $10,000 to the 'New Democrat Coalition', a group of moderate Democrats most of whom voted for the 2015 spending package. Citibank's PAC made donations to both the campaigns and the leadership PACs of many top Democrats who voted for the 2015 spending bill, including Steny Hoyer (Md.) House Democratic Whip and Representatives Jim Himes (D-Conn.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida.).
Public and governmental relations
In 2009, former chairman Richard Parsons hired long-time Washington, D.C. lobbyist Richard F. Hohlt to advise him and the company about relations with the U.S. government, though not to lobby for the company. While some speculated anonymously that the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cr ...
(FDIC) would have been a particular focus of Hohlt's attention, Hohlt said he'd had no contact with the government insurance corporation. Some former regulators found room to criticize Hohlt's involvement with Citigroup, because of his earlier involvement with the financial services industry during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Hohlt responded that though mistakes were made in the earlier episode he'd never been investigated by any government agency and his experience gave him a reason to be back in the "operating room" as parties address the more recent crisis.
In 2010, the company named Edward Skyler, formerly in New York City government and at Bloomberg L.P., to its senior public and governmental relations position. Before Skyler was named and before he began his job search, the company reportedly held discussions with three other individuals to fill the position: NY Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "political guru ... [who] spearheaded ... his short-lived flirtation with a presidential run ..., who will soon leave City Hall for a position at the mayor's company, Bloomberg L.P. ... After Mr. Bloomberg's improbable victory in the 2001 mayor's race, both Mr. Skyler and Mr. Sheekey followed him from his company to City Hall. Since then, they have been a part of an enormously influential coterie of advisers"; Howard Wolfson, the former communications director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and Mr. Bloomberg's re-election bid; and Gary Ginsberg, now at Time Warner and formerly at News Corporation (1980–2013), News Corporation.
On March 21, 2018, it was announced that Citigroup changed its policy to forbid its business customers from performing certain firearm-related transactions. The policy doesn't affect clients who offer credit cards backed by Citigroup or borrow money, use banking services, or raise capital through the company.
One March 19, 2020, Citi announced that it would support 2019 coronavirus pandemic relief with some US$15 million.
Notable staff
Current
* Jane Fraser is a Scottish Americans, Scottish-American banking executive. She currently holds the position of CEO from March 2021 and was formerly president of Citi, chief executive officer, Global Consumer Banking. Educated at Girton College, Cambridge, and Harvard Business School, she was a partner at McKinsey & Company for 10 years before joining Citigroup in 2004. She has been promoted numerous times and acceded to four Chief executive officer, CEO posts, the latest being CEO of Citigroup Latin America in April 2015. She was included on ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' "Most Powerful Women in Business" list in 2014, 2015 and 2021, and has been called the "Number 1 Woman to Watch" for two consecutive years by ''American Banker''.
*Edward Skyler is an American politician and businessperson. He was deputy mayor for operations for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, the youngest deputy mayor in New York City's history. In 2010, he was named executive vice president, Global Public Affairs at #Public and government relations, Citigroup.
*Edward L. Morse has been the global head of commodities research since 2011.
*Catherine L. Mann has been the chief economist since 2018.
*Manuel Falcó has been the global head of investment banking since 2018
Former
*Sanford I. Weill - was CEO from 1998 until October 1, 2003. He was also one of the 25 people that ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine blamed for the financial crisis.
*
Robert Rubin
Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...
- was an advisor and from 1999 to 2009 was a board director. Rubin received total compensation of $126 million from Citigroup between 1999 and 2009.
*
Charles Prince
Charles Owen "Chuck" Prince III (born January 13, 1950) is an American corporate executive and lawyer. He is a former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. He succeeded Sandy Weill as the chief executive of the firm in 2003, and as the chair ...
- was CEO from 2003 to November 2007. Prince was famously quoted as saying Citigroup was "still dancing" just as the financial crisis hit.
*
Vikram Pandit
Vikram Shankar Pandit (born 14 January 1957) is an Indian-American banker and investor who was the chief executive officer of Citigroup from December 2007 to 16 October 2012 and is the current chairman and chief executive officer of The Oroge ...
- was CEO from December 2007 to October 2012.
*Willem Buiter - was the chief economist from 2010 until 2018.
*Mark Carawan was chief compliance officer from 2012 until 2020.
*
Michael Corbat
Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".
Early life and ...
- was CEO from October 2012 to February 2021.
See also
*
* Big Four (banking)#United States, Big Four banks
References
Further reading
*
* Schull, Joseph, ''100 Years of Banking in Canada: A History of the Toronto-Dominion Bank''. Illustrated by Brad Smith. Vancouver: Copp Clark, c1958. ix, 222 p.; ill.; 24 cm.
External links
*
*
{{Authority control, state=expanded
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Banks based in New York City
Banks established in 1998
Companies based in Manhattan
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Financial services companies established in 1998
Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Midtown Manhattan
Multinational companies based in New York City
Primary dealers
Publicly traded companies based in New York City
Subprime mortgage crisis
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