Citigroup
From MarketsWiki
| Citigroup, Inc. | |
| |
| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York City, NY |
| Key People | Vikram S. Pandit, CEO |
| Employees | 275,000 |
| Products | Consumer, corporate and investment banking and finance, global asset management |
| Web site | http://www.citigroup.com |
Citigroup vies with Bank of America for largest U.S. banking group and continues to rank in the world's top 10. The financial services conglomerate recently began divesting itself of some assets acquired since its formation in 1998.
Citigroup suffered more than $65 billion in losses in late 2008, more than half stemming from mortgage-related securities. The U.S. government stepped in twice to rescue the company with multi-billion dollar bailouts.
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Contents |
History
Citigroup was formed in 1998 when banking giant Citicorp merged with insurance icon Travelers and began merging companies inside the two acquisitive titans. Citigroup also began rapidly acquiring other financial-service firms in the U.S. and abroad, including Japanese consumer-finance company Associates First Capital and Poland's Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SA in 2000.[1]
Citigroup currently has about 200 million customer accounts and approximately $2.2 trillion assets, and ranks as the world's number seven bank by market capitalization with around $140 billion[2]. But like its arch-rival Bank of America, Citigroup took some heavy blows from the U.S subprime mortgage meltdown in 2007 and suffered losses and writedowns of around $40 billion.[3]
Key People
Since taking the top job, Pandit has begun a global executive shake-up aimed at bringing Citigroup's regional decision-making structure closer to its clients and reduce costs by centralizing more global functions.[5] He also recently annouinced a plan to sell off more than $400 billion worth of legacy assets in banking, securities and real estate.[6]
Recent performance
Since Pandit's announcement Citigroup has ditched among other things, 45 U.S. Citigroup branches in eight states, $12.5 billion in corporate buyout loans, the Diner's Club credit card franchise and New York investment banking base.[7] Citigroup also plans to close a call center and 49 Citifinancial branches in the United Kingdom[8] and is considering selling its German consumer-banking arm Citibank Privatkunden, worth up to $6 billion euros.[9]
Latest News
Citigroup may become the latest in a string of troubled U.S. companies that have recently sold stakes in themselves to foreign entities. Citigroup sources revealed in late May, 2008 that the bank may sell a stake to the China Development Bank after negotiations that began in December 2007 were interrupted by Pandit's March 2008 management re-shuffle.[10]
In November of 2008, took radical action to cushion the blows of financial turmoil and revive its flagging share price, announcing plans to cut 52,000 jobs, or one in seven employees, and slash costs by about $10 billion (£6.6bn). The moves were a dramatic escalation of Citi’s efforts to deal with a crisis that has forced it to record a loss in each of the previous four quarters. [11]
References
- ↑ Citi's History. Citigroup. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Top 20 banks in the world. Arun Uday. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Citigroup's Weill admits flaw in Prince succession: report. Reuters. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Vikram S. Pandit. Bloomberg. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Citi Announces New Corporate Organizational Structure and Leadership Team. Citigroup. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ The Incredible Shrinking Citigroup. Motley Fool. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Blue-Light Specials at Citigroup as Its New Chief Plans a Revival. New York Times. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Citigroup shuts UK call centre and 49 branches. The Times. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Citigroup May Sell Its German Banking Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ China Development Bank May Buy Citigroup Stake, Corriere Says. Bloomberg. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Citi Cuts 52,000 More Jobs. Financial Times. Retrieved on November 18, 2008.
