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 conglomerate Travelers Group 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.

Citigroup is the third largest banking institution in the United States; alongside JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, it is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board and is commonly cited as being too big to fail. 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, 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 - broker-dealers, including one of 24 primary dealers in United States Treasury 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 and private equity 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 (FX), emerging markets, G10 rates, municipals, prime finance/brokerage services, and securitized markets, such as collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities. 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 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 - the second largest bank in Mexico, purchased by Citigroup in 2001; it serves about 20 million clients.
* Citicorp - 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 services worldwide to 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 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 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 in 1870; Smith Barney in 1873, Banamex in 1884; Salomon Brothers in 1910.

Citicorp (1812–1985)

City Bank of New York was chartered by New York State 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 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, 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 and the bank's income from Haiti's loan debt related to the Haiti indemnity controversy, 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 savings (1921); unsecured personal loans (1928); customer checking accounts (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 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, 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 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. 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—a conglomerate that had already bought life insurance company A L Williams as well as brokerage firm Smith Barney. The new company took the Primerica name, and employed a " cross-selling" 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, 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 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

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