Citigroup
Careers at Citigroup
MISSION
Citigroup Inc (“Citi”) seeks to make high-quality financial and banking services accessible to a broad range of corporate and consumer customers around the world, primarily through its subsidiary Citibank.
FOUNDING STORY
Citi was established in its current form in 1988, by way of a merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group.
The company, however, has its roots in a series of mergers, acquisitions, and name changes, with its history dating back as far as the early nineteenth century.
City Bank of New York, the earliest of Citi’s predecessor companies, was chartered by the State of New York in 1812.
The company changed its name to The National Bank of New York in 1865, having been accepted into the new US national banking system, and in 1913, the company became the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Having established itself as the largest bank in the United States, Citi incorporated its first overseas branch in Buenos Aires in 1914.
Citi continued to grow in size and influence throughout the twentieth century and underwent several changes in name.
In 1955, it reorganized under the name The First National Bank of New York, later shortened to First National City Bank, and in 1976 first took on the Citi name, rebranding as Citibank under the holding company Citicorp.
Since the Citicorp/Travelers Group merger, Citi has become one of the largest banking and financial services groups in the world. It has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries worldwide.
Business model of Citigroup
Customer Segments
Citi provides a broad range of financial and banking services that target a wide range of corporate, institutional, and individual clients around the world.
The company’s primary customer segments can be listed as follows:
- General Consumers, comprising the general consumer population across the company’s numerous operating jurisdictions, to which it provides consumer banking and credit services;
- High-Net Worth Individuals, comprising affluent consumers and family offices to which the company provides specialist wealth management services;
- Corporations, comprising small, medium, and large business across multiple sectors, to which the company provides a range of retail banking services;
- Institutions, comprising various non-governmental organisations, charities, and other institutions to which the company provides wealth management and retail banking solutions;
- Government Bodies, comprising government departments, public sector entities, and other governmental institutions to which the company provides a range of banking services.
Citi serves around 2 million customers across more than 160 countries worldwide. The bulk of the company’s revenue is derived from customers in North America, with the remainder divided between Latin America, Asia, and Europe, the Middle East, and Arica.
Value Propositions
Citi provides value to its clients in the following ways:
- Broad Range of Services – Citi offers a wide range of banking services and wealth management solutions to its client base, enabling it to target a diverse range of individual, corporate, and institutional customers;
- Reach and Accessibility – Citi has an extensive operational reach around the world, with customers able to access the company’s services across a large network of branches, online, at ATMs, and over the phone at any time of day;
- Status and Reputation – Citi has established itself as a reliable and prestigious banking institution, with a reputation for providing reliable and high-quality services to its clients, with a high degree of customer care;
- Financial Strength – Citi controls significant financial reserves, and being awarded high-level short-term and long-term issuer and deposit ratings with stable and positive outlooks; and
- Tailored Services – Citi offers its private banking and wealth management clients personalised services from private banking professionals.
Channels
Citi serves its consumer banking clients through a network of more than 2,450 branches across 19 countries and jurisdictions worldwide.
In these branches the company employs sales and consumer banking personnel who serve customer directly.
Consumer banking customers are also served via an extensive international network of ATMs, as well as telephone banking services.
Citi additionally operates a website at www.citibank.com, through which customers are able to access an online banking portal, through which they can complete various payments and transactions.
The Company also uses its website to provide its customers with information, answers to frequently asked questions, and news.
Many of Citi’s larger corporate and institutional customers and high-net-worth clients are served by the company’s private banking and wealth management teams.
These customers receive personalised assistance from private banking staff operating out of the company’s various offices around the world.
Customer Relationships
Citi seeks to establish longstanding relationships with its clients. The company’s sales personnel also seek to establish multi-product relationships with clients, attempting to sell multiple complementary services at the same time.,
Citi provides a number of its services to consumer clients on a self-service basis. This includes services offered via its online banking portal and its ATM network.
In-branch, the company offers consumers a more personal service, providing face-to-face assistance and guidance. A similar level of personal service is available to consumers via the company’s telephone banking services.
Citi offers its private banking and wealth management clients – principally high-net-worth individuals and institutions – a more tailored services. Private banking professionals work closely with these clients to ensure that the individual needs of each customer are met.
Citi additionally communicates directly with customers via press releases, executive commentaries, and news articles, as well as via its social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
Key Activities
Citi operates as a multinational financial services holding company.
The company and its subsidiaries provide consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, trade and securities services and wealth management.
Citi organises its operations into two reportable business segments: Citicorp, which comprises the company’s global banking operations, including consumer, retail and private banking activities; and Citi Holdings, which comprises the company’s specialised brokerage and asset management services. Citi maintains an operational presence across the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Key Partners
Citi works closely with a network of companies, organisations, and institutions across multiple sectors to provide its clients with a varied and reliable range of products and services.
The company’s principal partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:
- Supplier and Vendor Partners, including third party providers of services and suppliers of technologies and equipment, that help to ensure the efficient operation of the company and the effective provision of its services;
- Sponsorship and Brand Partners, comprising various commercial brands and companies with which the company collaborates on marketing and development projects and sponsorship deals;
- Commercial and Credit Card Partners, comprising a range of credit card companies and retailers with which the company jointly provides customers with private-label and co-branded consumer and commercial credit cards; and
- Community and Charity Partners, comprising a range of charitable institutions and non-profit organisations, with which the company collaborates on community projects both at home and abroad.
In recent years Citi has notably partnered with hotel chain Hilton to offer the Hilton Honors co-brand credit card, and established a regional partnership with Asia-based ride-sharing company Grab.
The company also has strategic and diversity partnerships in place with organisations such as US Financial Diaries, Opportunity Finance Network, the Center for talent Innovation, and the Council of Urban Professionals.
Key Resources
Citi’s key resources are its financial reserves, its IT and communications infrastructure, its network of branches and offices, its ATMs, its personnel, its partnerships, and its network of intermediaries.
Citi also has a number of patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office relating to systems that help the company to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Citi notably maintains an extensive property portfolio that is key to its efficient provision of services.
According to its annual report, Citi owns and or leases more than 55 million square feet of real estate in 95 countries, comprising more than 7,700 individual properties.
Cost Structure
Citi incurs costs in relation to the development of its online platforms, the provision of credit services, capital and funding costs, interest expenses, the maintenance and development of its IT and communications infrastructure, the operation of its network of offices, the procurement of third-party services, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.
Revenue Streams
Citi generates revenue through the provision of various banking products and financial services to individuals, businesses, and government entities.
The Company’s revenue is derived primarily in the form of fees associated with these services, including clearing, brokerage, treasury, administration, fiduciary, credit card, and other service fees.
In 2017, Citi generated total net revenue of more than USD 71.44 billion for the year.
The company’s Institutional Clients Group accounted for around USD 35.67 billion, while the Global Consumer Banking Group accounted for USD 32.70 billion.
Our team
info: Michael L. Corbat (“Corbat”) has served as Citi’s Chief Executive Officer since 2012. He is responsible for overseeing the global strategic direction of the company, and is currently directing the process of reorganising the company’s management structure. Corbat has been at Citi and its predecessor companies since graduating from Harvard University in 1983. Since joining the company he has held leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including spells as Chief Executive Officer of Citi Holdings, Chief Executive Officer of Citi’s Global Wealth Management unit, and Head of Global Corporate and Global Commercial Banking. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Corbat served as Citi’s Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
info: John Gerspach (“Gerspach”) was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Citi in 2009. He is responsible for leading the financial management of the company, and directing the company’s Expense Management and Citi Ventures initiatives. Gerspach is a long-serving Citi employee, having first joined the company in 1990. He has since risen through the company’s ranks, holding various Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer positions throughout the company’s business units and subsidiaries. Prior to taking on his current role as Chief Financial Officer, Gerspach served as the company’s Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Before joining Citi, Gerspach was CFO at Penn Central Industry Group, prior to which he was Comptroller for the Defense Contracting Group at ITT Corporation.
info: James Forese (“Forese”) has served as Citi’s Chief Executive Officer of Institutional Clients Group and President since 2013. He oversees the operations of Citi’s Markets and Securities Services business, Treasury and Trade Solutions business, and Corporate and Investment Banking activities, as well as the activities of Citi Private Bank. Forese first joined Citi in 1985 as an employee of its Salomon Brothers division, beginning his career at the company in a securities trading role. He was named a Managing Director of the unit in 1992 and has since held various management positions of increasing responsibility at Citi, including a spell as Head of the Markets division, and a spell as Head of the Securities and Banking unit.
