Citigroup

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Citigroup shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Citigroup offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Citigroup at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Citigroup? Wrong! If the Citigroup is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Citigroup then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Citigroup? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Citigroup and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Citigroup wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Citigroup then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Citigroup site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Citigroup, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Citigroup, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox_Company | company_name = Citigroup Inc. | company_logo = ] | company_type = [Public company ({{NYSE|C-->)| slogan = Let's get it done. | foundation = New York City, [United States ([) | location = [New York City, [United States | key_people = Charles Prince, Chairman & CEO
[Robert Rubin, Director and Chairman of Executive Committee
[Gary Crittenden, [CFO[http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NH19C02.htm BusinessWeek: Citigroup Inc. names Gary Crittenden CFO | num_employees = 332,000 () | industry = [Financial services | products = [Retail banking
[Corporate Banking
[Stockbroking
[Investment Banking
[Private banking
[Investment Research
[Private Equity
[Structured product| revenue = {{profit--> United States Dollar146.7 billion (2006) [http://www.citigroup.com/citigroup/fin/data/k06c.pdf Citigroup, Inc 2007 Form 10-K. Retrieved on April 27, [. | net_income = United States Dollar21.538 billion (2006)| homepage = http://www.citigroup.com/ www.citigroup.com -->Citigroup Inc. (), operating as Citi, is a major United States financial services company based in New York City, formed from the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group on April 7, 1998. According to Forbes Global 2000 in March 2007, it is the world's largest company, with total assets of United States dollar2.2 trillion (July 2007). The company employs 332,000 staff around the world, and holds over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries. It is a Primary dealers in United States Treasury securities Primary Dealers List, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Official Site. Retrieved on April 27, 2007 and its stock has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since March 17, 1997. Dow Jones Industrial Average History. Retrieved on April 27, 2007

History Citigroup 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 thus divided into the history of several firms that over time amalgamated into Citicorp - a multinational banking corporation operating in nearly 100 countries; or Travelers Group, whose businesses covered credit services, consumer finance, brokerage and insurance. As such, the company 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, and Salomon Brothers in 1910. About Citi, Citigroup Official Website. Retrieved 2007-04-04.

Citicorp ), New York CityThe history of Citicorp began with the founding of City Bank of New York, which 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. About Citi - Citibank, N.A., Citigroup Official Website. Retrieved 2007-05-12. The company's name was changed to The National City Bank of New York in 1865 after the joining 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. The 1918 purchase of U.S. overseas bank International Banking Corporation helped it become the first American bank to surpass $1 billion in assets, and it became the largest commercial bank in the world in 1929. As it grew, the bank became a leading innovator in financial services, becoming the first bank to offer compound interest on savings (1921); Unsecured loan (1928); customer Cheque (1936) and the negotiable certificate of deposit (1961).

The bank changed its name to The First National City Bank of New York in 1955, which was shortened to First National City Bank on the 150th anniversary of the company's foundation in 1962. The company organically entered the leasing and credit card sectors, and its introduction of US dollar certificates of deposit in London marked the first new negotiable instrument in market since 1888. Later to become MasterCard, the bank introduced its First National City Charge Service credit card - popularly known as the "Everything card" - in 1967.

During the mid-1970s, under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Walter Wristen, First National City Bank (and its holding company First National City Corporation) was renamed as Citibank, N.A. (and Citicorp, respectively). Shortly afterward, the bank launched the Citicard, which pioneered the use of 24-hour ATMs. As the bank's expansion continued, the Narre Warren-Caroline Springs credit card company was purchased in 1981. 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, the largest issuer of credit cards and charge cards in the world, and expand its global reach to over 90 countries.

Travelers Group Travelers Group, at the time of merger, was a diverse group of financial concerns that had been brought together under Chief Executive Officer 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. About Citi - Primerica Financial Services, Citigroup Official Website. Retrieved 2007-04-04. Two years later, Weill mastered the buyout of Primerica Financial Services - a conglomerate that had already bought life insurance A L Williams as well as stock broker 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 spin-off.

In September 1992 Travelers Insurance, who 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. and property and casualty, and life and 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 - a retail brokerage and asset management firm that was headed by Weill until 1985 - and merged it with Smith Barney. Finally, in November 1997, Travelers Group (which had been renamed again in April 1995), made the $9 billion deal to purchase Salomon Brothers, a major Bond market and investment bank.

Citicorp/Travelers Merger 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.

Although presented as a merger, the deal was actually more like a stock swap, with Travelers Group purchasing the entirety of Citicorp shares for $70 billion, and issuing 2.5 new Citigroup shares for each Citicorp share. Through this mechanism, 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 and Sandy Weill 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. However, 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.

Post merger history In order to convince Citicorp to merge, Weill proposed a structure of co-CEOs, consisting of himself and John Reed. This strategy was denounced immediately by many in the press and many research analysts as being unworkable. Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin was brought in as a moderating influence between Weill and Reed, but conflicts within the company eventually led to Reed being forced out (though Rubin remains). In addition, three co-CEO's (Jamie Dimon and Deryck Maughan from Travelers, and Victor Menezes from Citicorp) were placed in charge of the corporate and investment bank, while two co-CEO's were placed in charge of the consumer group. This was dubbed "The Noah's ark school of management" by the press, and did not last long.

The Travelers' management attempted to implement its culture of cost cutting and cross selling into Citigroup. Citibank retail bankers were instructed to get securities and insurance licensed in order to sell mutual funds and annuities. US retail banking, however, never became a major focus for the company. Todd Thompson, CFO, explained that "the retail branches are mostly a deposit gathering operation used to fund other, higher return, areas". At the present time, its different consumer divisions are not as integrated as other financial institutions, with each one primarily running as a stand-alone monoline.

The corporate and investment had a more difficult time integrating. There was infighting between corporate bankers and investment bankers, as to who would be the primary relationship point of contact with a customer. Conflicts between the tri-CEOs (including a drunken skirmish between Dimon and Maughan at a company retreat) led to the ousting of Jamie Dimon.

The company soon acquired Associates First Capital, the largest consumer finance company, and Banco Nacional de México, the largest bank in Mexico. This was controversial in Mexico: at the time the press there were worried that Mexico's largest banks would all become "branch offices for foreign competitors". Bombs were placed in branches in violent protest.

Travelers spin off The company spun off its Travelers Property and Casualty insurance underwriting business. The spin off was prompted by the insurance unit's drag on Citigroup stock price because Traveler's earnings were more seasonal and vulnerable to large disasters. It was also difficult to sell this kind of insurance directly to customers since most industrial customers are accustomed to purchasing insurance through a broker.

The Travelers Property Casualty Corporation merged with The St. Paul Companies Inc. in 2004 forming The St. Paul Travelers Companies. Citigroup retained the life insurance and annuities underwriting business; however, it sold those businesses to MetLife in 2005. Citigroup still heavily sells all forms of insurance, but it no longer underwrites insurance.

Despite their 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, Citigroup Announces Unified, Global Brand Identity Under "Citi" Name - Citigroup Press Release, 2007-02-13 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.

On April 11, 2007 Citigroup said it will 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. Citigroup to Slash 17,000 jobs. Yahoo News, April 11, 2007.

Business model Citigroup and its predecessor companies use the "diversified financial services business model" first invented by Prudential in the late seventies. Simply put, this model attempts to conglomerate many types of finance companies, such as stock brokers, banks, insurance companies, and others. This is done because each of those businesses do better or worse at different times of the business cycle, and so owning all of them balances things out and creates in theory less earnings volatility. This is also done because customers usually use many different kinds of financial products and attempting to convince them to use more products from the same company sells more products more cheaply, compared to those separate companies strictly selling products on their own.

During the era of Sandy Weill, much of Citigroup and predecessor's efforts were focused on acquisitions. Much of the efforts were focused in the stock brokerage and investment banking areas, and most of the acquisitions were companies which had recently had problems and were selling at a low price. After the acquisition, the management team would usually engage in aggressive cost cutting to build up cash for the next deal.

The present CEO, Chuck Prince, has said "the day of the transformative deal (merger) is over". This is thought to refer to mega deals like the Citicorp/Travelers merger, as Citigroup continues to acquire. The focus of the company though, is said to have changed to organic revenue growth, that is selling more products instead of focusing on acquisitions and cost cutting alone to increase profit.

Citigroup's 2005 sale of the remainder of Travelers Insurance to MetLife was described by the press as the death knell of the bank-insurance cross-selling model. This is a false analysis though, as Citigroup continues to cross sell insurance, but no longer underwrites it. This focus on selling almost all kinds of financial products, but not necessarily "manufacturing them", is also what prompted Citigroup to recently trade its mutual fund business to Legg Mason in return for more stockbrokers.

Real estate , Canary Wharf, London

Citigroup's most famous office building is the Citigroup Center, a diagonal-roof skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, New York City, which despite popular belief is not the company's headquarters building. Citigroup has its headquarters across the street in an anonymous-looking building at 399 Park Avenue (Manhattan) (the site of the original location of the City National Bank). The headquarters is outfitted with nine luxury dining rooms, with a team of private chefs preparing a different menu for each day. The management team is on the third and fourth floors above a Citibank branch. Smith Barney leases a building in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Manhattan, the former headquarters of the Travelers Group and famous for its red umbrella sculpture.

Strategically, 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 E (New York City Subway service) and V (New York City Subway service) trains. Consequently, the company's Midtown buildings—including 666 Fifth Avenue, 399 Park Avenue, 485 Lexington, 153 East 53rd Street (Citigroup Center), and Citicorp Building in Long Island City, Queens, are all no more than two stops away from each other. In fact, every company building lies above or right across the street from a subway station served by the E (New York City Subway service) or V (New York City Subway service).

Chicago also plays home to an architectural beauty operated by Citigroup. Citicorp Center (Chicago) has a series of curved archways at its peak, and sits across the street from major competitor ABN AMRO's ABN AMRO Plaza. It has a host of retail and dining facilities serving thousands of Metra customers daily via the Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Divisions Citigroup is divided into three major business groups: Global Consumer, Global Wealth Management, and Corporate and Investment Banking. It also includes one stand-alone business, Citigroup Alternative Investments.

Global Consumer Group Generating 55% of Citigroup's 2006 revenues, Global Consumer Group comprises three sub-divisions: Cards (credit cards), Consumer finance, and Retail Banking. Targeting individual consumers as well as small- to medium-sized businesses, GCG offers financial services across its worldwide branch network, including banking, loans, insurance, and investment services.

Citi Cards is responsible for around 40% of the profits with GCG, and represents the largest issuer of credit cards across the world as well as an 3,800-point ATM network across 45 countries. The Consumer Finance division (branded CitiFinancial) accounts for about 20% of GCG's profits, and offers personal loans and homeowner mortgage loans to consumers across its network of 50 branches in 20 countries worldwide. The takeover of Associates First Capital in September 2000 enabled CitiFinancial to expand its reach outside of the United States, particularly capitalizing on Associates' 700,000 customers in Japan and Europe. Finally, the retail bank encompasses the Citi's global branch network, branded Citibank. Citibank is the third largest retail bank in the United States, and it has branches in countries throughout the world, with the exception of Mexico, where Citi-owned Banco Nacional de México is the country's largest bank.

Corporate and Investment Banking Containing Citi's most market-sensitive divisions, "CIB" is divided into two primary businesses - Capital Markets and Banking (CMB) and Global Transaction Services (GTS). CMB provide investment- and commercial-banking services covering institutional brokerage, advisory services, foreign exchange, structured products, derivatives, loans, leasing, and equipment finance. Meanwhile, GTS offer cash-management, trade finance and securities services to corporations and financial institutions worldwide.

CIB are responsible for around 32% of Citigroup's annual revenues, generating just under US $30 billion in 2006 financial year.Citigroup Annual Report, 2006.

Global Wealth Management Global Wealth Management divides itself into Citi Private Bank, Citi Smith Barney and Citi Investment Research, and generated 7% of Citigroup's total revenue in 2006. As revenues are predominantly derived from investment income, Global Wealth Management is more sensitive to the direction and level of the equity and fixed-income markets that other divisions of the company.

Citi Private Bank provides banking and investment services to high net worth individuals, private institutions, and law firms. Acting as a gateway to all of Citigroup's products, Citi Private Bank offer traditional investment products and alternative choices, with all clients assigned a Private Banker to personally deal with their portfolio.

Citi Smith Barney is Citi's global private wealth management unit, providing brokerage, investment banking and asset management services to corporations, governments and individuals around the world. With over 800 offices worldwide, Smith Barney holds 9.6 million domestic client accounts, representing $1.562 trillion in client assets worldwide.

Finally, Citi Equity Research is Citi's research unit comprised of 390 research analysts across 22 countries. Citi Investment Research covers 3,100 companies, representing 90 percent of the market capitalization of the major global indices, providing macro and quantitative analysis of global markets and sector trends.

Citi Alternative Investments Citi Alternative Investments (CAI) is an alternative investment platform that manages assets across five classes - private equity, hedge funds, structured products, managed futures, and real estate. Across 16 "boutique investment centers", it offers various funds or separate accounts that utilize alternative investment strategies, as opposed to the mainstream mutual funds that it recently sold to Legg Mason. CAI manages Citigroup proprietary capital as well as institutional investments from third-parties and high-net-worth investors. As of June 30, 2007, CAI holds US$59.2 billion under capital management, and contributed 7% of Citigroup's 2006 income.

Corporate governance Current board of directors as of February 20, 2006

C. Michael Armstrong, Retired Chairman, Hughes Aircraft Company, AT&T and Comcast
Alain Belda, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alcoa
George David, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, United Technologies Corporation
Kenneth T. Derr, Chairman, Retired, Chevron Corporation
John M. Deutch, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Retired CIA director
Roberto Hernández Ramírez, Chairman, Banco Nacional de México
Ann Jordan, Consultant
Andrew N. Liveris, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Dow Chemical Company
Dudley Mecum, Managing Director, Capricorn Holdings LLC 1
Anne Mulcahy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox
Richard D. Parsons, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner
Charles Prince, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup
Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation
Robert E. Rubin, Chairman of the Executive Committee and Member of the Office of the Chairman, Citigroup
Franklin A. Thomas, Consultant, TFF Study Group
Sanford I. Weill, Retired Chairman, Citigroup

Business issues in SydneyCitigroup has experienced several significant business issues. Some of these are in specific businesses and are shared amongst other businesses within that industry, while some result from a conflict or collusion between different divisions of Citigroup. This second type of scandal have caused some to call into question the "financial supermarket" aspect of Citigroup.

Associates Citigroup acquired the largest Consumer Finance company, Associates First Capital, in 2000. Associates was already under attack for what were called "predatory lending" practices, specifically the selling of single premium credit insurance. Upon being acquired the same attacks were turned towards Citigroup, who stopped the practice of selling the single premium credit insurance, and instituted other changes. In the end the company was fined for the former practices. The present combined consumer finance division, called CitiFinancial, continues to share in the general controversy over consumer finance. In May 2004, CitiFinancial was fined $70 million by the U.S. Federal Reserve, for continued predatory lending (described in detail in Inner City Press' Weekly Citigroup Watch Report).

Biased research Citigroup and other investment banks were accused of having struck secret deals with companies that said that the bank's stock research division would rate that company a "Buy" if it would do investment banking with that division. Implicated by that scandal was analyst Jack Grubman. This scandal led to some wondering if the financial services conglomerate concept would lead to conflicts of interest such as this. The premise of this question however, is considered by some to be somewhat flawed insofar as research companies have almost always been owned by investment banks, even before the repeal of Glass-Steagal. The firm eventually paid the largest fine in the "global settlement" with the state, resulting from conflicts of interest between research and investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney.

To help put investors at ease, Citigroup hired one of its most outspoken critics, Sallie Krawcheck, to head Smith Barney (now a pure stock brokerage division), which was separated from the investment bank within the corporate structure. It dropped the "Salomon" from the name, as this name historically denoted investment banking.

Enron and WorldCom Citigroup was accused of helping Enron and other companies hide their losses by loaning money to those companies in a special way that would reduce liabilities visible on the balance sheet. In May 2004 the company agreed to pay $2.65 billion, or $1.64 billion after tax, to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of purchasers of WorldCom securities.

Japan Private Banking scandal Citigroup removed three senior executives in the wake of a banking scandal in Japan. The scandal involved the Private Bank, the division that deals with very wealthy customers. It was alleged that the Private Bank failed to follow certain anti-money laundering procedures, that it used deceptive sales tactics, and that it assisted a customer in doing transactions which disrupted the financial markets or were fraudulent. Some of the accusations included sales of complex securities to the unwary elderly that would likely not mature in their lifetime, violating the SEC regulations as well as business ethics. This caused the Japanese regulators to shut down the Private Bank.

Deryck Maughan, a Citigroup vice chairman and head of Citigroup International, Thomas W. Jones, chairman and chief executive of the global investment management division, and Peter K. Scaturro, head of Citi's private bank, left the company. Maughan had been with Citigroup and its predecessor Salomon Brothers since 1983. Jones and Scaturro were both members of the Citigroup management committee. A memo from Chief executive officer Charles Prince said that Citigroup President Robert B. Willumstad would take charge of the businesses run by the three departing executives.

Citigroup proprietary government bond trading scandal Citigroup was criticized for disrupting the European bond market 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. Under Pressure, Citigroup Climbs Down on Govie Trade euroweek.com. Retrieved March 7, 2007 Relatedly, the U.S. Federal Reserve refused to rule on Citigroup's application to acquire First American Bank in Texas, from September 2004 through March 2005 (described in detail in Inner City Press' Weekly Citigroup Watch Report).

Brasil Telecom and Brazilian pension funds Citigroup is a major shareholder of Brasil Telecom through an investment partnership in Brazil, and was implicated in charges revolving around a highly controversial deal executed with pension funds of Brazilian state-owned companies, by which these funds would have a put option against them for a value deemed far above arm's-length market levels. After public outcry in Brazil, the deal was partly annulled by a federal court and the matter is being investigated by a panel of Brazilian congresspersons, with Citibank's president in Brazil Mr. Gustavo Marin having been heard in October 2005.

Improper assessment of late fees In 2001, Citibank settled a lawsuit for improperly assessing late fees. The class action lawsuit was for 45 million dollars. Following this Citibank lobbied in Congress, to pass legislation that would limit class action lawsuits to 5 million dollars unless they were initiated on a federal level (Class Action Fairness Act of 2005). Many consumer advocate websites report that Citibank is still improperly assessing late fees.

Insider trading In March 2006, the Australian corporate regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission filed penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Citigroup's global markets subsidiary in Australia. ASIC has alleged that Citigroup, acting as an advisor to Toll Holdings in its bid to take over Patrick Corporation, violated Australian law by engaging in conflicts with the interests of Toll and by engaging in insider trading. Citigroup had purchased a substantial shareholding in the shares of Patrick Corporation on the business day prior to Toll's takeover announcement for that company.

In June 2007, the Australian Federal Court rejected ASIC's case against Citi ruling that there was no clear case of insider trading in relation to Citi's trading of Patrick shares and that Citi did not owe a fudiciary duty to Toll. The court said that the mandate letter between Citi and Toll had excluded the existence of a fiduciary relationship between the parties that would otherwise have existed. ASIC has been forced to repay Citi court costs associated with the case.

Recent poor stock performance Citigroup has been criticized by certain investors for poor stock performance over the past 5 years, returning a negative 1 percent while other large financial institutions have returned 55% and more, despite Citigroup's strong performance in its investment banking and retail banking sectors. The main weakness lies within corporate expenditures, and CEO Chuck Prince has pledged to devote his efforts to lowering expenditures in 2007 to mitigate this problem.

Some believe Citigroup should be broken up into various spin-offs to improve stockholder return. This is thought to improve return in two ways: one by making each spun off company easier to manage, and two increasing the stock price relative to the profits of each company, since investors may pay a higher price relative to profits of certain parts of the company.

There have been many proposals as to how to break up Citigroup. For example, Sam Advisors LLC has gone on CNBC and advocated Citigroup being broken up into an investment bank, an international bank, and a domestic bank. Others have advocated different solutions. The debate is intensified by the fact that Citigroup is the result of a great deal of mergers with components that are still run separately. For example, the subprime lending division, Citifinancial, has followed the business model of the company that Citigroup acquired, Associates First Capital. This model involves expanding into new countries and essentially inventing or reinventing the consumer finance business model in that country. This has often been very profitable for the company, although it has led to major problems as well (particularly in Japan and Argentina). The synergies between consumer finance and retail banking in any country remain to be seen however, causing some to advocate a spin off of the consumer finance franchise from the retail banking franchise. (The retail banking franchise itself is very different in each country it occupies. For example, Citibank in the United States has a relatively small branch network with midtier technological ability, and is distinguished by an aggressive effort to cross sell investment and insurance products to all customer segments. On the other hand, Citibank in Mexico (Banamex) is the largest bank in Mexico with a more mass market customer base and unique product set.)

Recent regulatory action On March 23, 2005, the NASD 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 relating to 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. NASD News Release

On June 6, 2007, the NASD 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. NASD 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. NASD regulatory action finra.org Retrieved Sept. 19, 2007

Brands

Citibank, providing consumer banking products.
Banamex, largest Mexico bank
Banco Cuscatlan, El Salvador biggest bank.
Banco Uno, Central America largest credit card bank.
Citimortgage, mortgage loan
CitiInsurance, insurance provider
Citicapital, Institutional financial services
Citifinancial, Consumer finance aka subprime lending
Citigroup Alternative Investments, Global Wealth Management
Diners Club, credit cards.
Primerica, engages in direct selling of financial services
Smith Barney, investment services, both retail full service brokerage, private client services, and formerly the brand name used for the investment bank
CitiCards, Credit Cards
Credicard Citi, credit cards business in Brazil

Citigroup recently acquired the Egg Banking plc brand when it purchased Egg Banking plc, the worlds largest internet bank, from Prudential Plc.

Sponsorships

Presenting sponsor of the Rose Bowl Game, part of the Bowl Championship Series
Sponsor of the #90 NASCAR Busch Series Ford driven by Stephen Leicht for Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.
Naming rights sponsor of Citi Field, the new baseball stadium of the New York Mets to be located in Flushing, New York and to open in the 2009 season.
Edinburgh University Men's Lacrosse Club.
Werder Bremen, a top German football team in the Bundesliga 1
Steaua Bucuresti, a top Romanian football team in the Liga 1