Citigroup Inc. or Citi (styled as citi ) is an American multinational investment bank and a financial services company headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate, Travelers Group in 1998; however, Travelers revolved from the company in 2002. Citigroup now owns Citicorp, the parent company for Citibank, as well as several international subsidiaries.
Citigroup is ranked 4th in the list of the largest banks in the United States and, along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, this is one of the Big Four banks in the United States. This is a systemically important financial institution and is on the list of systemically important banks that are too big to fail. This is one of nine global investment banks in Bracket Bulge.
Citigroup is ranked 30th in Fortune 500. Citigroup has over 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries. It has 209,000 employees, despite having 357,000 employees before the 2007-2008 financial crisis, when it was rescued through a massive stimulus package by the US government.
Video Citigroup
Current operation
Citigroup was formed on October 9, 1998, after a $ 140 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group to create the world's largest financial services organization. The history of the company, thus, is divided into the workings of several companies which from time to time are incorporated into Citicorp, a multinational banking company operating in more than 100 countries; or Travelers Group, whose businesses include credit, consumer finance, brokerage and insurance services. Thus, the history of the company dates back to its establishment: 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.
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City Bank of New York was hired by New York State on June 16, 1812, with a capital of $ 2 million. Serving a group of New York merchants, the bank opened for business on 14 September of that year, and Samuel Osgood was elected the company's first President. The company name was changed to The National City Bank of New York in 1865 after joining the new US national banking system, becoming America's largest bank in 1895. It became the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1913, and the year subsequently inaugurated the first overseas branch of a US bank in Buenos Aires, although the bank, since the mid-19th century, has been active in plantation economies, such as the Cuban sugar industry. The 1918 purchase of US foreign bank International Banking Corporation helped it become the first American bank to exceed $ 1 billion in assets, and became the world's largest commercial bank in 1929. As it grew, the bank became a leading innovator in financial services. , became the first major bank in the US to offer interest on savings interest (1921); unsecured personal loan (1928); customer's current account (1936) and negotiable deposit certificates (1961).
The Bank changed its name to The First National City Bank of New York in 1955, shortened in 1962 to First National City Bank on the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the company. Organizations are entering the lease and credit cards sector, and the introduction of a US dollar denominated certificate of deposit in London marks the first new negotiating instrument on the market since 1888. The bank introduced First National City Charge Service credit cards - popularly known as "Everything Cards" and then became MasterCard - in 1967.
In 1976, under the leadership of CEO Walter B. Wriston, First National City Bank (and its parent company First National City Corporation) was renamed Citibank, N.A. (and Citicorp, respectively). Shortly after, the bank launched Citicard, which pioneered the use of 24-hour ATM. 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 will see Citibank become the largest bank in the United States and the world's largest credit card and credit card issuer, and expand its global reach to more than 90 countries.
Travelers Group (1986-2007)
Travelers Group, at the time of the merger, is a diverse group of financial problems that have been united under CEO Sandy Weill. The root comes from Commercial Credit, a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation taken personally by Weill in November 1986 after taking over the company earlier in the year. Two years later, Weill controls the purchase of Primerica Financial Services - a conglomerate that has purchased life insurance company A L Williams and brokerage firm Smith Barney. The new company takes the name Primerica, and uses the "cross selling" strategy in such a way that each entity in the parent company aims to sell its respective services. Its non-financial business is separated.
In September 1992, Travelers Insurance, which had suffered from bad real estate investment and suffered significant losses after Hurricane Andrew, formed a strategic alliance with Primerica that would lead to its incorporation into one company in December 1993. With the acquisition, the group became Travelers Inc. Property & amp; casualties and life & amp; annuity underwriting capabilities added to the business. Meanwhile, the typical red umbrella logo of Travelers, also obtained in the deal, is applied to all businesses within the newly named organization. During this period, Travelers acquired Shearson Lehman - a brokerage and asset management company led by Weill until 1985 - and merged with Smith Barney.
Ownership of Salomon Brothers (1997-2003)
In November 1997, the Travelers Group (which was renamed in April 1995 when they joined Aetna Property and Casualty, Inc.), acquired Salomon Brothers, large bond dealers and brass investment banks in a $ 9 billion deal. The deal equips Travelers/Smith Barney and Salomon focusing on fixed income and institutional clients, while Smith Barney is strong in equity and retail. Salomon Brothers absorbs Smith Barney into a new securities unit called Salomon Smith Barney; A year later, this division combines the operations of the previous Citicorp securities. The name Salomon Smith Barney was abandoned in October 2003 after a series of financial scandals that tarnished the bank's reputation.
Merger Citicorp and Travelers (1998-2001)
On April 6, 1998, a merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group was announced worldwide, creating a $ 140 billion company with assets of nearly $ 700 billion. The deal will allow Travelers to market mutual funds and insurance to Citicorp's retail customers while providing banking division access to an expanded client base of investors and insurance buyers.
In the transaction, Travelers Group acquired all of the $ 70 billion of Citicorp shares, issuing 2.5 new Citigroup shares for each Citicorp share. The existing shareholders of each company own about half of the new company. While the new company retains the Citicorp "Citi" brand in its name, the company adopts a distinctive "red umbrella" as a new corporate logo, which was used until 2007.
The leaders of the two holding companies, John S. Reed and Sandy Weill respectively, were announced as co-chairman and co-CEO of the new company, Citigroup, Inc., although the major differences in management style between the two immediately present a question mark. over the wisdom of such a setup.
The remaining provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act - enacted after the Great Depression - prohibits banks from joining the insurance guarantor, and means Citigroup has between two and five years to release illicit assets. However, Weill stated at the time of the merger that they believed "that during that time the law will change... we have had enough discussion to believe this will not be a problem". Indeed, the adoption of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of November 1999 confirmed Reed and Weill's view, opening the door for financial services conglomerates offering a mix of commercial banking, investment banking, insurance guarantees and insurance brokers.
Joe J. Plumeri worked on post-merger integration of both companies and was appointed CEO of Citibank North America by Weill and Reed. He oversees 450 branches. J. Paul Newsome, an analyst at CIBC Oppenheimer, said: "He is not the executive of spitting and polishing that many people expect, he is rough around the edges, but Citibank knows the bank is a troubled institution - can not go anymore with passive sales - and Plumeri has all the desire to throw a glass of cold water into the bank. "Plumeri increased unit revenue from $ 108 million to $ 415 million in one year, an increase of nearly 300%. He suddenly retired from Citibank, however, in January 2000.
In the year 2000, Citigroup acquired Associates First Capital Corporation for $ 31.1 billion of shares, which, until 1989, was owned by Gulf Western (now part of National Amusements), and later by Ford Motor Credit Company. The Associates were widely criticized for predatory lending practices and Citi eventually settled with the Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to pay $ 240 million for customers who have been the victims of various predatory practices, including "reversing" mortgages, "packing up" mortgages with optional credit insurance, and deceptive marketing practices.
In 2001, Citigroup made additional acquisitions: European American Bank, in July, of $ 1.9 billion, and Banamex in August, of $ 12.5 billion. Spin-off of Travelers (2002)
The company separated its Pension and Insurance Property business in 2002. Spin off was driven by the attractiveness of the insurance unit at Citigroup's share price because Travelers's earnings were more seasonal and vulnerable to major disasters and events such as the September 11 attacks. It is also difficult to sell insurance directly to customers because most customers are accustomed to buying insurance through a broker.
Tourists join The St. Paul Companies Inc. in 2004 formed The St. Paul Travelers Companies. Citigroup maintains life insurance business and underwriting annuity; however, they sold the business to MetLife in 2005. Citigroup still sells life insurance through Citibank, but no longer guarantees insurance.
Apart from the divestment of Travelers Insurance, Citigroup retained the signature signature of the red umbrella logo as its own until February 2007, when Citigroup agreed to sell the logo back to St Paul Travelers, which was renamed the Tourist Company. Citigroup also decided to adopt its "Citi" brand name for itself and almost all its subsidiaries, except Primerica and Banamex.
Subprime mortgage crisis (2007)
The heavy exposure to troubled mortgages in the form of secured debt obligations (CDO), exacerbated by poor risk management, caused Citigroup to be a problem when the subprime mortgage crisis worsened 2008. The Company has used elaborate mathematical risk models that look at mortgages in the region geographic specific. , but it never included the possibility of a national housing slump, or the prospect that millions of mortgage holders would default on their mortgages. The trade chief Thomas Maheras is a close friend of senior risk officer David Bushnell, who undermines risk control. As Minister of Finance, Robert Rubin is said to be influential in lifting the Glass-Steagall Act that allows Travelers and Citicorp to join in 1998. Later on Citigroup's board of directors Rubin and Charles Prince are said to be influential in pushing the company towards MBS and CDO in the subprime mortgage market.
Beginning in June 2006, Senior Vice President Richard M. Bowen III, Chief Responsible Officer of Lines Group Citigroup, began to warn the board of directors of the extreme risks taken by mortgage operations that have the potential to cause huge losses. The group buys and sells $ 90 billion mortgages housing annually. Bowen's responsibility is basically to serve as a quality control supervisor who ensures the creditworthiness of the unit. When Bowen first became a rapporteur in 2006, 60% of the mortgages were damaged. The number of bad mortgages began to increase throughout 2007 and eventually exceeded 80% of the volume. Many of these mortgages are not only flawed, but are the result of mortgage fraud. Bowen is trying to wake the council through weekly reports and other communications. On 3 November 2007, Bowen emailed Citigroup Chairman Robert Rubin and chief financial officer, chief auditor and chief risk management officer to re-expose risk and potential losses, claiming that internal control of the group had been damaged and requested an investigation outside its business unit. Subsequent investigations revealed that the Consumer Lending Group has been subjected to internal control disorders since 2005. Irrespective of the investigation findings, Bowen's allegations are ignored, despite the fact that withholding such information from shareholders violates the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which he shows. Citigroup CEO Charles Prince signed a certification that the bank is in line with SOX even though Bowen revealed that this is not so. Citigroup eventually took off most of his responsibilities and informed him that his physical presence was no longer needed in the bank. The Financial Crisis Investigation Commission asked him to testify about Citigroup's role in the mortgage crisis, and he did so, emerging as one of the first witnesses before the Commission in April 2010.
When the crisis began to unfold, Citigroup announced on April 11, 2007, that it would eliminate 17,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its workforce, in a widespread restructuring designed to cut costs and increase its poorly performing stock. Even after the securities firm and broker Bear Stearns had a serious problem in the summer of 2007, Citigroup decided the possibility of problems with its CDO is very small (less than 1/100 of 1%) that they exclude from risk analysis. With the crisis worsening, Citigroup announced on January 7, 2008 that they are considering cutting another 5 percent to 10 percent of its 327,000 workforce members.
Collapse & amp; US Government Intervention (2008)
In November 2008, Citigroup went bankrupt, despite receiving $ 25 billion in Troubled Assets Assistance Program funded by taxpayers. On November 17, 2008, Citigroup announced plans for about 52,000 new layoffs, above 23,000 cuts already made during 2008 in the massive job destruction resulting from four quarters of losses in a row and reports that it is unlikely in profits again before 2010.The same day in the Wall Street market responded, with stocks falling and dropping the company's market capitalization to $ 6 billion, down from $ 300 billion two years earlier. Finally, staff cuts numbered more than 100,000 employees. Its stock market value fell to $ 20.5 billion, down from $ 244 billion two years earlier. Commonweight Citigroup shares traded below $ 1.00 on the New York Stock Exchange.
As a result, late on November 23, 2008, Citigroup and Federal regulators approved plans to stabilize the company and prevent further deterioration in firm value. On 24 November 2008, the US government announced a massive bailout for Citigroup designed to save the company from bankruptcy while giving the government a big voice in its operations. The joint statement by the US Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced: "With this transaction, the US government takes the necessary action to strengthen the financial system and protect US taxpayers and the US economy." The bailout asks the government to return about $ 306 billion in loans and securities and directly invest about $ 20 billion in the company. The Treasury provided $ 20 billion in the Troubled Help Fund Program (TARP) fund in addition to the $ 25 billion awarded in October. The Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) agreed to close 90% of losses on Citigroup's portfolio of $ 335 billion after Citigroup absorbed the first $ 29 billion loss. The Treasury will bear the first $ 5 billion loss; FDIC will absorb the next $ 10 billion; then the Federal Reserve will bear the remaining risk. Assets remain in Citigroup's balance sheet; the technical term for this arrangement is the ring fence.
In return, the bank provided US $ 27 billion in preferred stock and warrants to buy common stock. Government gained vast power over banking operations. Citigroup agreed to try to modify the mortgage, using the standards set by the FDIC after the collapse of IndyMac Bank, with the aim of keeping as many homeowners as possible in their homes. Executive salaries will be limited. As a condition of federal assistance, the payment of Citigroup dividend was reduced to $ 0.01 per share.
According to The Wall Street Journal , government assistance provided to Citi in 2008/2009 is provided to prevent worldwide chaos and panic by the potential destruction of the Global Transaction Services (now TTS) division. According to the article, the former CEO of Pandit said if Citigroup was allowed to uncover bankruptcy, "100 governments around the world will try to find ways to pay their employees".
In 2009, Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi Private Bank, stopped paying its bankers with a commission to sell investment products, in a move to enhance Citi Private Bank's reputation as an independent wealth management advisor, as opposed to a product pusher.
Citi Holdings (2009)
On January 16, 2009, Citigroup announced its intention to reorganize itself into two units of operations: Citicorp for its retail and institutional clients, and Citi Holdings for brokers and asset management. Citigroup will continue to operate as a single company for now, but Citi Holdings managers will be tasked with "taking advantage of the disposition of value enhancement and the combination opportunities as they arise", and eventually spin-offs or mergers involving operating units do not rule out. Citi Holdings is made up of Citi businesses that Citi wants to sell and is not considered a part of Citi's core business. The majority of its assets are US mortgages. It was created amid the financial crisis as part of Citi's restructuring plan. It consists of several business entities including remaining interests in local consumer loans such as OneMain Financial, divestments such as Smith Barney, and a collection of special assets. Citi Holdings represents $ 156 billion of GAAP assets, or ~ 8% of Citigroup; 59% represent North American mortgages, 18% business operations, 13% pool of special assets, and 10% are categorized as others. Business operations include OneMain Financial ($ 10B), PrimeRe ($ 7B), MSSB JV ($ 8B) and Spanish/Greek retail ($ 4B), less associated with loan loss reserves. Although Citi Holdings is a mixed bag, its main objective is to reduce some non-core businesses and reduce assets, and strategically "break even" by 2015.
On February 27, 2009, Citigroup announced that the US government would take a 36% equity stake in the company by converting US $ 25 billion in emergency aid into common stock with a US Treasury credit limit of $ 45 billion to prevent corporate bankruptcy. The government guarantees losses of more than $ 300 billion of troubled assets and injects $ 20 billion immediately into the company. CEO salaries are set at $ 1 per year and the highest employee salaries are limited to $ 500,000. Any amount of compensation of $ 500,000 must be paid with a limited share that employees can not sell until the relief of the emergency government has been repaid. The US government also holds half the seats on the Board of Directors, and senior management is subject to abolition by the US government if there is poor performance. In December 2009, US government stocks declined from 36% stake to 27% stake, after Citigroup sold $ 21 billion of common stock and equity in the single largest share sale in US history, exceeding Bank of America's $ 19 billion 1 month earlier. In December 2010, Citigroup repaid the fullest emergency aid and the US government has made a $ 12 billion profit on investment in the company. Government restrictions on senior management pay and supervision have been removed after the US government sold its remaining 27% stake in December 2010.
On June 1, 2009, it was announced that Citigroup will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average effective June 8, 2009, due to significant government ownership. Citigroup replaced by Travelers Co.
Sale of Smith Barney (2009)
Smith Barney, Citi's global personal wealth management unit, provides brokerage, investment banking and asset management services for companies, governments, and individuals worldwide. With more than 800 offices worldwide, Smith Barney holds 9.6 million domestic client accounts, representing $ 1,562 trillion in client assets worldwide.
On January 13, 2009, Citi announced the merger of Smith Barney with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Citi received $ 2.7 billion and a 49% stake in the joint venture.
In June 2013, Citi sold its remaining 49% stake in Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management for $ 13.5 billion following an assessment by Perella Weinberg.
In 2010, Citigroup reached its first profitable year since 2007. It reported net income of $ 10.6 billion, compared with a loss of $ 1.6 billion in 2009. Late in 2010, the government sold its remaining shares in the company, generating net profit in overall for taxpayers of $ 12 billion. The special IRS tax exemption granted to Citi allowed the US Treasury to sell its shares profitably, while still owning Citigroup shares, which eventually earned $ 12 billion. According to Treasury Department spokesman Nayyera Haq, "These (IRS taxes) rules are designed to stop corporate robbers from using corporate loss to avoid taxes, and were never intended to cope with an unprecedented situation where the government owns shares in the bank. certainly not written to prevent the government from selling its shares for profit. "
Expansion of retail banking operations (2011)
In 2011, Citi was the first bank to introduce Smart Banking digital branches in Washington, D.C., New York, Tokyo and Busan (South Korea) while continuing to renovate all of its branch network. New sales and service centers are also open in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Petersburg. The Citi Express module, a 24-hour service unit, was introduced in Colombia. Citi opened an additional branch in China, extending its branches to 13 cities in China.
Expansion of credit card operations (2011)
Citi Branded Cards introduce several new products in 2011, including: ThankYou Citi Card, Citi Executive/AAdvantage and Citi Simplicity in the US. The card also has a Latin America partnership card with Colombia-based Avianca airlines and with Banamex and AeroMexico; and merchant loyalty programs in Europe. Citibank is also the first and only international bank approved by Chinese regulators to issue credit cards under its own brand without cooperating with China's state-owned domestic banks.
China investment investment venture (2012)
In 2012, Global Markets and Orient Securities divisions form the Citi Orient Securities form, a Shanghai-based equity and debt brokerage firm operating in the Chinese market.
Federal Reserve pressure test (2012-2016)
On March 13, 2012, the Federal Reserve reported Citigroup was one of four financial institutions, from 19 major banks, which failed its stress test, designed to measure bank capital during the financial crisis. The 2012 stress test determines whether banks can withstand a financial crisis that has an unemployment rate of 13%, share prices cut by half, and house prices down by 21%. Citi failed to test the Fed's pressure because Citi's high-payback plan and its international lending, rated by the Fed as having a higher risk than American domestic borrowing. Citi receives half of its revenues from its international business. By comparison, Bank of America, which passed the stress test and did not ask for a return on capital to investors, received 78% of its revenues in the United States.
In June 2012, Citi's 200th birthday, Citigroup has built $ 420 billion in surplus cash reserves and government securities. As of March 31, 2012, Citi has a Tier 1 capital ratio of 12.4%. This is the result of the sale of more than $ 500 billion of special assets placed in Citi Holdings, which are secured against losses by the US Treasury Department while under federal majority ownership.
In 2013, Sanjiv Das was replaced as head of CitiMortgage with Jane Fraser, former head of Citi Private Bank.
On March 26, 2014, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve reported that Citigroup was one of five financial institutions that failed its stress test. Unlike the failed voltage tests in 2012, Citigroup failed on unresolved qualitative concerns despite warnings from regulators. The report specifically states that Citigroup failed "to project revenue and losses under the stress scenario for material parts of the company's global operations and its ability to develop scenarios for internal stress testing that adequately reflect the various business activities and exposures."
On March 11, 2015, Citi passed its first CCAR test, allowing it to raise its dividend to 5 cents per share and announce a $ 7.8 billion repurchase plan.
In February 2016, the company suffered a lawsuit as a result of the bankruptcy of Mexican oil services company.
In April 2016, Citigroup announced that it would eliminate its bad bank, Citi Holdings.
On June 23, 2016, the Federal Reserve awarded Citi a passing grade on its second consecutive stress test, granting permission to double its dividend to 16 cents per share and agree to a $ 8.6 billion stock repurchase program,
Spin-off from Napier Park Global Capital (2013)
Citi Capital Advisors (CCA), formerly Citi Alternative Investments, is a hedge fund that offers a variety of investment strategies across asset classes. To comply with the Volcker Rules, which limit the bank's ownership in hedge funds to no more than 3%, Citi discharges the hedge fund unit in 2013 and gives the majority of the company to its managers. The CCA spin-off created Napier Park Global Capital, a $ 6.8 billion hedge fund with over 100 employees in New York and London and managed by Jim O'Brien and Jonathan Dorfman.
Streamlining consumer banking units (2014)
In October 2014, Citigroup announced the release of consumer banking in 11 markets, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Japan, Guam, Czech Republic, Egypt, South Korea (consumer financing only), and Hungary.
2015 and beyond
In May 2015, the bank announced the sale of its foreign currency margin business, including CitiFX Pro and TradeStream, to FXCM and SAXO Bank of Denmark. Despite this deal, the industry survey pegged Citi as the largest banking player in the forex market. Remaining foreign exchange sales & amp; the trading business continues to operate behind this deal under the leadership of James Bindler, who succeeds Jeff Feig as head of the company's global currency in 2014.
In February 2016, Citi sold its retail and commercial banking operations in Panama and Costa Rica to Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) for $ 360 million. The sold operations include 27 branches serving approximately 250,000 clients. Citi continues to offer corporate and institutional banking and wealth management in Panama and Costa Rica.
In November 2015, Springleaf acquired OneMain Financial from Citigroup.
On April 1, 2016, Citigroup became the exclusive issuer of the Costco branded credit card.
In April 2016, Citi was given regulatory approval for 'life will,' plans to shut down operations in the event of another financial crisis.
On March 22, 2018, Citigroup placed its first-class restrictions on business banking clients, including clients offering Citigroup-backed credit cards or raising capital from Citigroup, requiring clients to conduct background checks on the sale of firearms, to ban the sale of firearms to those under the age of 21, and to prohibit the sale of lump stocks and high-capacity magazines.
Maps Citigroup
Office
New York City
Citigroup Center, a diagonal skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, is the most famous office building in Citigroup, which although popular belief is not a corporate headquarters building. Citigroup has its headquarters located in downtown Tribeca (388 Greenwich). Citigroup also has a building in Tribeca, Manhattan at 388 Greenwich Street which serves as headquarters for the Investment and Corporate Banking operations and is the former headquarters of the Tourist Group.
All Citigroup real estate in New York City, excluding the division of Smith Barney company and the Wall Street trading division, is located along the IND Queens Boulevard Line in New York City, served by E and M train. As a result, the company's Midtown buildings - including 787 Seventh Avenue, 666 Fifth Avenue, 399 Park Avenue, 485 Lexington, 153 East 53rd Street (Citigroup Center) in Manhattan, and One Court Square in Long Island City, Queens, all located in four- short distance from Queens Boulevard Line between Court Square and Seventh Avenue.
Name rights to Citi Field
Citigroup has the naming rights for Citi Field, the home ballpark of the New York Mets Major League Baseball team, through a $ 400 million, 20-year deal that began with the opening of the stadium in 2009.
Chicago
Citicorp Center in Chicago has a series of curved arches at its peak, and sits across the street from ABN AMRO Plaza ABN AMRO's main competitor. It has shops and restaurants serving Metra customers through the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Regulatory actions, lawsuits, and arbitration
In 2004, Japanese regulators took action against Japanese Citibank lending to customers involved in share manipulation. Regulators suspend bank activities in one branch and three offices, and limit their consumer banking division. In 2009, the Japanese regulator again took action against Citibank Japan, because the bank has not established an effective money laundering monitoring system. Regulators halted selling operations in retail banking Citibank for a month.
On March 23, 2005, the National Association of Securities Dealers, former name of the American self-regulatory organization for broker-dealers, now known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FInRA) announced a total fine of $ 21.25 million against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., American Express Finance and Chase Investment Services are subject to breaches of conformity and control over their mutual fund sales practices between January 2002 and July 2003. The case against Citigroup involves the recommendation and sale of Class B and Class B mutual funds.
On June 6, 2007, FInra announced more than $ 15 million in fines and damages against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., to settle charges related to misleading documents and inadequate disclosures in seminars and retirement meetings for BellSouth Corp's employees. in North and South Carolina. Carolina. FInRA found that Citigroup did not supervise a brokerage team located in Charlotte, N.C., which used misleading sales materials for dozens of seminars and meetings for hundreds of BellSouth employees.
In July 2010, Citigroup agreed to pay $ 75 million to settle civil claims that mislead investors for potential losses from high-risk mortgages. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Citigroup had made misleading statements about the company's exposure to subprime mortgages. In 2007, Citigroup indicated that its exposure was less than $ 13 billion, when in fact it was more than $ 50 billion.
In April 2011, the arbitration panel ordered Citigroup Inc. to pay $ 54.1 million for losses from municipal securities funds wallowing between 2007 and 2008.
In August 2012, Citigroup agreed to pay nearly $ 25 million to settle an investor lawsuit accusing the bank of misleading investors about the nature of the mortgage-backed securities. The suit was on behalf of the investor who purchased the certificate in one of two mortgage-backed securities from Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust Inc in 2007.
In February 2012, Citigroup agreed to pay $ 158.3 million to settle claims that are falsely certifying the quality of loans issued by the CitiMortgage unit for more than six years, so that they will be eligible for insurance from the Federal Housing Administration. The suit was originally filed by Sherry Hunt, a CitiMortgage employee.
On February 9, 2012, it was announced that the five largest mortgage servicers (Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) approved a historic settlement with the federal government and 49 states. The settlements, known as the National Defense Settlement Rights (NMS), require servicers to provide approximately $ 26 billion in assistance to depressed homeowners and in direct payments to states and federal governments. This settlement amount makes NMS the second largest civil settlement in US history, following only the Tobacco Prime Settlement Agreement. The five banks must also comply with 305 new mortgage service standards. Oklahoma persisted and agreed to settle with the bank separately.
In 2014, Citigroup agreed to pay $ 7 billion to settle claims that mislead investors about bad mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said: "The bank's mistakes are terrible. [...] As a result of their assurances that the toxic financial products are healthy, Citigroup is able to expand its market share and increase profits" and that "settlement does not free the bank or its employees from facing criminal charges. "
In July 2015, Citigroup was fined $ 70 million by the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of Currency Finance Supervisors, and was ordered to pay $ 700 million to customers. Citigroup has conducted illegal practices in marketing additional products for credit cards, including credit monitoring, debt protection products, and wallet protection services.
In January 2017, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. fined $ 25 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for spoofing orders in the US Treasury futures market, ie, placing orders intended to be canceled prior to execution, and for failing to diligently supervise its employees with regard to spoofing.
Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing bankruptcies
On October 22, 2001, Citigroup was sued for violating federal securities laws by misinterpreting Enigma Citigroup-related exposures in the 2001 Annual Report and elsewhere, and failing to disclose to what extent Citigroup's legal obligations arose from 'structured finance' deals with Enron. In 2003, Citigroup paid a $ 145 million fine and a fine to settle claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Manhattan district prosecutor's office.
In 2004, Citigroup paid $ 2.65 billion before tax, or $ 1.64 billion after tax, to settle a lawsuit over its role in the sale of shares and bonds to WorldCom, the world's second largest telecommunications company, which collapsed after the accounting scandal.
On February 5, 2002, Citigroup was sued for violating federal securities laws and misleading investors by issuing false information about Global Crossing's earnings and financial performance. In 2005, Citigroup paid $ 75 million to settle the lawsuit. Citigroup is accused of issuing excessive research reports and not disclosing conflicts of interest.
In 2005, Citigroup paid $ 2 billion to settle the lawsuit filed by investors at Enron. In 2008, Citi also agreed to pay $ 1.66 billion to Enron creditors.
On November 8, 2007, Citigroup was sued for misrepresenting finances and omissions from what amounted to more than two years of revenue and all business lines. In 2012, the company paid $ 590 million to settle the case.
Criticism
Allegation of money laundering by Raul Salinas
In 1998, the General Accounting Office issued a critical report on the handling of funds by Citibank received from Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of Carlos Salinas, former president of Mexico. The report, entitled "Raul Salinas, Citibank and Alleged Money Laundering," indicates that Citibank facilitates the transfer of millions of dollars through complex financial transactions that hide the paper's tracks. The report shows that Citibank took Salinas as a client without conducting a thorough investigation of how he made his fortune, an omission that Citibank officials called a violation of your "know your customer" policy.
Conflicts of interest in investment research
In December 2002, Citigroup paid a fine of $ 400 million to state and federal governments as part of a settlement involving allegations that ten banks, including Citigroup, cheated investors with biased research. Total settlement with ten banks is $ 1.4 billion. The settlement requires banks to separate investment banking from the research, and prohibit the allocation of IPO shares.
Citigroup government bond trading scandal of 2004
Citigroup was criticized for disrupting European bond markets by quickly selling EUR11 billion worth of bonds on August 2, 2004 on the MTS Group trading platform, lowering prices, and then buying them back for less.
Plutonomy Report
In a leaked report to their investor clients from 2005, a team of global strategists at Citigroup wrote an analysis of the global distribution of wealth and consumers. In it, they claim that global imbalances have grown so far as to justify talking about a plutonomy, and demanding a new understanding of how this consumption impacts. The authors cite data showing that the top 1% of households in US economic accounts account for 20% of total income in 2000, which is roughly equal to the bottom 60% of households put together. In addition, in terms of wealth, they show greater inequality so that "[1] he also has 1% of households that also owns 33% of net worth, greater than 90% of households are united. worse, depending on your political line - the top 1% of households account for 40% of financial net worth, more than 95% of households are put together. "Among the current policies (ie, the United States, Britain and Canada) , they describe the six main drivers: "... the ongoing [bio-] technological revolution, the capitalist-friendly government and the tax regime, the globalization that rearranges the global supply chain with the elite and immigrants with great capital, financial complexity and innovation. greater, the rule of law, and patent protection are all well. "In his report, the authors advocate maintaining an unequal distribution of wealth in the sense that "... society and government should be able to disproportionately accept/encourage a handful of people to maintain that lower profit sharing. Managerial Aristocracy, as in Gilded Age, Roaring Twenties, and the rapidly growing nineties, need to confiscate a large part of the increase in profit sharing, either through capital income, or simply paying for itself a lot. "In addition, the authors say that in industrialized countries, there appears to be a relationship between the concentration of income (plutonomy) and the level of household savings in such a way that the latter tends to fall in plutonomies.The main purpose of their report is to examine how to make money from this The report was also presented in Michael Moore Capitalism: The Love Story while his portrayal of the report has been criticized by the authors, and the report by the same major authors mainly confirms earlier findings.
TARP funding
In op-ed op-eds, Michael Lewis and David Einhorn described the $ 306 billion guarantee in November 2008 as a "no-disguise gift" in the absence of a real, motivating crisis.
According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Citigroup paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bonus to more than 1,038 employees after receiving $ 45 billion in TARP funds at the end of 2008. This included 738 employees who each received $ 1 million in bonuses, 176 employees each - each received $ 2 million in bonuses, each receiving $ 3 million in bonuses, and 143 each receiving a $ 4 million bonus to more than $ 10 million. As a result of criticism and majority ownership of the US Government over Citigroup shares, compensation and bonuses are limited from February 2009 to December 2010.
Terra Securities scandal
In November 2007 it became public that Citigroup was heavily involved in the Terra Securities scandal, involving investments by eight Norwegian municipalities in various hedge funds in the US bond market. The funds are sold by Terra Securities to the municipality, while the product is shipped by Citigroup. Terra Securities ASA filed for bankruptcy November 28, 2007, a day after they received a letter from the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority announcing the withdrawal of permits to operate. The letter stated, "The Supervisory Authority believes that Citigroup's presentation, as well as the presentation of Terra Securities ASA, appears to be insufficient and misleading because of central elements such as information on potential additional payments and this size is ignored."
The alleged theft of a customer's account
In August 2008, Citigroup agreed to pay nearly $ 18 million in refunds and fines to settle allegations by California Attorney General Jerry Brown that it was wrong to take funds from a credit card customer account. Citigroup pays $ 14 million from restitution to about 53,000 customers across the country. A three-year investigation found that Citigroup from 1992 to 2003 used a computerized "sweep" feature to move a positive balance from a card account to a bank's general fund, without notifying the cardholder. Brown said that Citigroup "deliberately stole from customers, mostly poor and recently deceased, when designing and implementing sweeps... When a discloser revealed fraud and brought him to his boss [in 2001], they buried information and continued the practice illegal. "
Restructuring and potential liquidation by the regulator
In September 2011, former Wall Street reporter Ron Suskind stated that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner ignored 2009 orders from President Barack Obama to break Citigroup in the process of massive restructuring and liquidation. According to Suskind, Obama wants to restructure the bank into several more lean and smaller companies while Geithner executes the stress tests of American financial institutions.
Robert Kuttner wrote in his 2010 Presidency in Peril that in spring 2009, Geithner and chief economic adviser Larry Summers believed they could not seize, liquidate and break Citigroup because they did not have the legal authority or tools to do so. The Finance Department rejected Suskind's account in an e-mail to the media stating "This account is incorrect." The order granted by the president in March 2009, is to develop contingency plans for difficult restructuring if the government finally has a large stake in the institution at the end of a stress test which Secretary Geithner is working aggressively to put as part of the Financial Stability Administration Plan.While Treasuries start working on emergency plans, fortunately never have to put them in place. "
At the Citi 2012 annual shareholders' meeting on April 17, Citi's executive compensation package was rejected, with about 55% of the vote against the agreement. Unbinding voting is required under the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the company to hold the advisory shareholder's vote on their executive compensation plan. Many shareholders expressed concern about the failure of the Fed stress test 2012 and the lack of long-term performance-based metrics in its executive compensation plan. One of the largest and most active voting shareholders of no, the California Employee Retirement System, declared Citi "not anchored for performance". A Citigroup shareholder filed a lawsuit several days after the vote, claiming Citi executives to breach their fiduciary obligations. In response, Richard Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup, called the vote "a serious matter". A Citi spokesperson said, "The Citi Board of Directors takes seriously the votes of shareholders, and together with senior management will consult with representative shareholders to understand their concerns" and that the Council's Compensation Committee "will carefully consider their input (shareholders) as we move forward ".
Allegations of futures market manipulation
In January 2017, bank regulators fined Citigroup $ 25 million as five merchants from banks have manipulated US Treasury futures over 2,500 times between July 2011 and December 2012. Citigroup was criticized for failing to oversee its merchants and had no system in place to detect spoofing, which involves entering fake orders designed to deceive others into the price of thinking ready to go up or down.
Communications
Lobby
Between 1998 and 2014, Citigroup spent nearly $ 100 million lobbying the federal government. In 2008, Citigroup was the 16th largest political campaign contributor in the US, from all organizations, according to the Responsive Political Center. From 1989 to 2006, company members donated more than $ 23,033,490, 49% of whom went to Democrats and 51% of those who went to the Republicans. Matthew Vadum, a senior editor at the conservative Capital Research Center, acknowledged these figures, but pointed out that Citigroup has become an "old donor for left-wing pressure groups", and refers to Research Capital Watch 2006's study of Fortune 100 grants foundation, where the Citigroup foundation gave "20 times more money for the group on the left than to the group on the right" during the 2003 tax year.
In 2014, PAC Citigroup contributed $ 804,000 to the various congressional campaigns, which are 162 House members, including 72 Democrats, in which the donation averages about $ 5,000 per candidate. Of the 57 Democrats who supported the Expenditure Bill of 2015, 34 have received campaign funding from PAC Citigroup at some point since 2010. Citcroup's 2014 donations only benefit Republicans. The PAC of the bank is almost the same as the Democrats as a Republican - $ 30,000 for Democratic Congressional Democratic Campaign Committees (maximum) and $ 10,000 for the 'New Democratic Coalition', a group of moderate Democrats who largely select the 2015 shopping package. PACs from Citibank make donations to the campaign and PAC leadership of many of the top Democrats voted for the 2015 spending bill, including Steny Hoyer (Md.) House Democratic Whip and Representative Jim Himes (D-Conn.) And Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida.).
Public and government relations
In 2009, former chairman Richard Parsons hired Washington's old lobbyist, D.C. Richard F. Hohlt to advise him and the company about relations with the US government, although not to lobby the company. While some people speculate anonymously that Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will be the focus of Hohlt's attention, Hohlt says he has no contact with government insurance companies. Some former regulators found space to criticize Hohlt's involvement with Citigroup, due to his previous involvement with the financial services industry during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Hohlt replied that although mistakes were made on the previous episode, he was never investigated by government agencies and his experience gave him a reason to return to the "operating room" when the parties overcame a more recent crisis.
In 2010, the company was named Edward Skyler, formerly in the government of New York City and in Bloomberg L.P., to the position of public relations and senior government. Before Skyler was named and before he began his job search, the company reportedly held discussions with three other people to fill the position: NY Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg "political teacher... [who] spearheaded... in short the temptation of life with running a presidential... who will leave City Hall for a position in Mayor Bloomberg LP.... Since then, they have become part of a group of very influential advisors "; Howard Wolfson, former director of communications for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and Mr Bloomberg's re-election bid; and Gary Ginsberg, now in Time Warner and earlier in News Corporation.
References
Further reading
- Schull, Joseph, <100 years of banking in Canada: history of Toronto-Dominion Bank . by Joseph Schull; illustrated by Brad Smith. Vancouver: Copp Clark, c1958. ix, 222 p.; sick.; 24 cm.
- Langley, Monica (2004). Tear down the Wall . New York: Free Press. ISBNÃ, 0-7432-4726-4.
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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