History

Manhattan Chinatown Citibank branch(New York City)

[edit]Early history
Founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, ownership and management of the bank was taken over
by Moses Taylor, a protégé of John Jacob Astor and one of the giants of the business world in the 19th
century. During Taylor's ascendancy, the bank functioned largely as a treasury and finance center for
Taylor's own extensive business empire.[citation needed] The first president of City Bank was Col. Samuel
Osgood, born in North Andover, MA.

In 1863, the bank joined the U.S.'s new national banking system and became The National City Bank of
New York. By 1868, it was considered one of the largest banks in the United States, and in 1897, it
became the first major U.S. bank to establish a foreign department.

National City became the first U.S. national bank to open an overseas banking office when its branch
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was opened in 1914. Many of Citi's present international offices are older;
offices in London, Shanghai,Calcutta, and elsewhere were opened in 1901 and 1902 by the International
Banking Corporation (IBC), a company chartered to conduct banking business outside the U.S., at that
time an activity forbidden to U.S. national banks. In 1918, IBC became a wholly owned subsidiary and
was subsequently merged into the bank. By 1919, the bank had become the first U.S. bank to have US$1
billion in assets.[citation needed]

Charles E. Mitchell was elected president in 1921 and in 1929 was made chairman, a position he held
until 1933. Under Mitchell the bank expanded rapidly and by 1930 had 100 branches in 23 countries
outside the United States. The policies pursued by the bank under Mitchell's leadership are seen by
historical economists as one of the prime causes of the stock market crash of 1929, which led ultimately
to the Great Depression.[citation needed] In 1933 a Senate committee, the Pecora Commission, investigated
Mitchell for his part in tens of millions dollars in losses, excessive pay, and tax avoidance. Senator Carter
Glass said of him: "Mitchell more than any 50 men is responsible for this stock crash."[3]
On December 24, 1927, its headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were blown up by the Italian
anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, in the frame of the international campaign supporting Sacco and Vanzetti.
[citation needed]

In 1952, James Stillman Rockefeller was elected president and then chairman in 1959, serving until 1967.
Stillman was a direct descendant of the Rockefeller family through the William Rockefeller (the brother
of John D.) branch. In 1960, his second cousin, David Rockefeller, became president of Chase Manhattan
Bank, National City's long-time New York rival for dominance in the banking industry in America.[citation needed]

[edit]Citibank

Citibank footprint

Following its merger with the First National Bank, the bank changed its name to The First National City
Bank of New York in 1955, then shortened it to First National City Bank in 1962.

The company organically entered the leasing and credit card sectors, and its introduction
ofUSD certificates of deposit in London marked the first new negotiable instrument in market since 1888.
Later to become part of MasterCard, the bank introduced its First National City Charge Service credit
card – popularly known as the "Everything Card" – in 1967.[4]

In 1976, under the leadership of CEO Walter B. Wriston, First National City Bank (and itsholding
company First National City Corporation) was renamed Citibank, N.A. (and Citicorp, respectively). By that
time, the bank had created its own "one-bank holding company" and had become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of that company, Citicorp (all shareholders of the bank had become shareholders of the new
corporation, which became the bank's sole owner).

The name change also helped to avoid confusion in Ohio with Cleveland-based National City Bank,
though the two would never have any significant overlapping areas except for Citi credit cards being
issued in the latter National City territory. (In addition, at the time of the name change to Citicorp, National
City of Ohio was mostly a Cleveland-area bank and had not gone on its acquisition spree that it would
later go on in the 1990s and 2000s.) Any possible name confusion had Citi not changed its name from
National City eventually became completely moot when PNC Financial Services acquired the National
City of Ohio in 2008 as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
[edit]Automated banking card
Shortly afterward, the bank launched the Citicard, which allowed customers to perform all transactions
without a passbook. Branches also had terminals with simple one-line displays that allowed customers to
get basic account information without a bank teller. When automatic teller machines were later
introduced, customers could use their existing Citicard.

[edit]Credit card business

In the 1960s the bank entered into the credit card business. In 1965, First National City Bank
bought Carte Blanche from Hilton Hotels. However after three years, the bank (under pressure from the
U.S. government) was forced to sell this division. By 1968, the company created its own credit card. The
card, known as "The Everything Card", was promoted as a kind of East Coast version of
the BankAmericard. By 1969, First National City Bank decided that the Everything Card was too costly to
promote as an independent brand and joined Master Charge (now MasterCard). Citibank unsuccessfully
tried again in 1977–1987 to create a separate credit card brand, the Choice Card.

John S. Reed was selected 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.[4]

As the bank's expansion continued, the Narre Warren-Caroline Springs credit card company was
purchased in 1981. In 1981, Citibank chartered a South Dakota subsidiary to take advantage of new laws
that raised the state's maximum permissible interest rate on loans to 25 percent (then the highest in the
nation). In many other states, usury laws prevented banks from charging interest that aligned with the
extremely high costs of lending money in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making consumer
lending unprofitable. Currently, there is no maximum interest rate or usury restriction under South Dakota
law when a written agreement is formed.[5]

[edit]Automatic teller machines

Citibank was one of the first U.S. banks to introduce automatic teller machines in the 1970s, in order to
give 24-hour access to accounts. Customers could use their existing Citicard in this machine to withdraw
cash and make deposits, and were already accustomed to using a machine with a card to get information
that previously required a teller.

In April 2006, Citibank struck a deal with 7-Eleven to put its automated teller machine (ATMs) in more
than 5,500 convenience stores in the United States. In the same month, it also announced it would sell all
of its Buffalo and Rochester, New York, branches and accounts to M&T Bank.

[edit]Nationwide expansion
Citibank's major presence in California is fairly recent. The bank had only a handful of branches in that
state before acquiring the assets of California Federal Bank in 2002 with Citicorp's purchase of Golden
State Bancorp which had earlier merged with First Nationwide Mortgage Corp.

In 2001, Citibank settled a $45 million class action lawsuit for improperly assessing late fees. Following
this Citibank lobbied the United States Congress to pass legislation that would limit class action lawsuits
to $5 million unless they were initiated on a federal level. Some consumer advocate websites report that
Citibank is still improperly assessing late fees.

In August 2004, Citibank entered the Texas market with the purchase of First American Bank ofBryan,
Texas. The deal established Citi's retail banking presence in Texas, giving Citibank over 100 branches,
$3.5 billion in assets and approximately 120,000 new customers in the state. First American Bank was
renamed Citibank Texas after the take-over was completed on March 31, 2005.

In 2008, Citibank was crowned Deal of the Year – Securitisation Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Japan
Law Awards.[6]

[edit]Citi Field
It was announced on November 13, 2006, that Citibank would be the corporate sponsor of the new
stadium for the New York Mets. The stadium, Citi Field, opened in 2009.

[edit]Recent losses and cost cutting measures

Citi reported losing $8–11 billion several days after Merrill Lynch announced that it too had been losing
billions from the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States.

On April 11, 2007, the parent Citi announced staff cuts and relocations.[7]

On 4 November 2007, Charles Prince quit as the chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, following
crisis meetings with the board in New York in the wake of billions of dollars in losses related to subprime
lending.
Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin has been asked to replace ex-CEO Charles
Prince to manage the losses Citi has amassed over the years of being over-exposed to subprime lending
during the 2002–2007 surge in the real estate industry.

In August 2008, after a three-year investigation by California's Attorney General Citibank was ordered to
repay the $14 million (close to $18 million including interest and penalties) that was removed from 53,000
customers accounts over an 11-year period from 1992–2003. The money was taken under a
computerized "account sweeping program" where any positive balances from over-payments or double
payments were removed without notice to the customers.[8]

On November 23, 2008, Citigroup was forced to seek federal financing to avoid a collapse, in a way
similar to its colleagues Bear Stearns and AIG. The U.S. government provided $25 billion and guarantees
to risky assets to Citigroup in exchange for stock. This was the latest bailout in a string of bailouts that
began with Bear Stearns and peaked with the collapse of the GSE's, Lehman, AIG and the start of TARP.

On January 16, 2009, Citigroup announced that it was splitting into two companies. Citicorp will continue
with the traditional banking business while Citi Holdings Inc. will own the more risky investments, some of
which will be sold to strengthen the balance sheet of the core business, Citicorp. The idea behind splitting
into two companies is so Citigroup can dump "the dead weight" on Citi Holdings, allowing the prime
assets of Citicorp to operate away from that of the toxic assets.[9]

[edit]Historical data

Asset & Liability Asset/Liability Ratio Net Income

[10]

CitiBank was the third-largest bank at the end of 2008 as an individual bank.[citation needed]

[edit]Subsidiaries

This section needs additional citations for verification.

Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(July
2007)

According to the Citigroup website, until October 2006, Citibank ran the following subsidiaries:

 Citibank, N.A.(National Association) – The "original" Citibank, primarily doing business in New York
State and the tri-state New York metropolitan area. Also the parent company of the other
subsidiaries.[11]
 Citibank Canada – banking service was pulled out on July 2010, leaving only with credit card service.
[12]

 Citibank Texas, N.A. – The former First American bank.[11]

 Citibank (West), F.S.B. – The former Citicorp Savings (a savings and loan operating in California), as
well as the former California Federal Bank and Golden State Bank.[11]
 Citibank, F.S.B. – The primary Citibank subsidiary serving all other states, based in Chicago.[11]
 Citibank Banamex USA – Formally California Commerce Bank, Banamex's U.S. banking division.
 Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. – A credit card and lending-only bank based in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, including the former Associates National Bank.
 Universal Financial Corp. – A credit card bank, purchased in 1997, that manages the AT&T Universal
Card.

On October 1, 2006, a massive re-organization designed to streamline the various Citibank banking
charters occurred. Under the new structure, the following divisions were consolidated into:

 Citibank, N.A.:
 Citibank, FSB
 Citibank (West), FSB
 Citibank, Texas, N.A.
 Citibank Delaware
 Citibank Banamex USA
 Citicorp Trust, N.A. (California)
 Citibank South Dakota, N.A.:
 Citibank, Nevada, N.A.
 Citibank USA, N.A.
 Universal Financial Corp.
 Citibank South Dakota, FSB

As of December 2006, these are the only two Citibank banking divisions:

 Citibank, N.A. and Citibank South Dakota, N.A.:

According to the FDIC, Citibank's headquarters for FDIC purposes is its Paradise Road Las Vegas,
Nevada branch.[11]

In addition to these divisions, Macy's, Inc. under its former corporate name Federated Department Stores,
finalized an arrangement withCitigroup to sell its consumer credit portfolio, reissuing its cards under the
Federated-Citigroup Alliance name Department Stores National Bank (DSNB) and allowing Federated to
continue servicing the credit accounts from its Financial, Administrative and Credit Services Group (FACS
Group Inc.). The cards involved are Macy's and Bloomingdale's.

Citibank's private-label credit card division, Citi Commerce Solutions, issues store-issued credit card for
such companies as: Sears,ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, The Home Depot, Staples, Shell Oil, and others.

The German branch, the Citibank Privatkunden AG & Co. KGaA was sold in July 2008 to the
French Crédit Mutuel Group. On February 22, 2010 it was renamed to Targobank.

Ownership Of Citibank