- Is Bill Gross, PIMCO's Bond King, Losing His Touch?
- Greece Austerity Deal Runs Into Trouble Once Again
- Why Greece Will Default, Leave Eurozone
- Housing Still Hurting Consumers, Economy: Bernanke
- Get Ready for $5 Gas This Year: Ex-Shell CEO
- Diamond Investing: Why It's Not for the Faint of Heart
- Obama Backs Down on Birth Control Plan
- Israel Likely to Bomb Iran This Year: Political Analyst
- The World's Best Beers
- The Real Reason Behind Bank of America’s Rally
- 5 Hedge Funds’ Top Stocks Soar After 2011 Rout
- This Valentine’s Day Love Is Served on a Silver Platter
- CEO to CEO: Our Roles Are Changing
- Clint Eastwood ‘Surprised’ by Reaction to Chrysler's ‘Halftime in America’ Ad
- Bulls Check In to Community Health
- Bank of America’s Worst-Case Scenario Gets More Real
- Tesla Unveils First SUV: Model X
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
MOST SHARED
- How to Date a Wall Street Man
- Europe Shares End Lower, Hit by New Greek Concerns
- Unions Launch Strike in Greece
- 5 Hedge Funds’ Top Stocks Soar After 2011 Rout
- Bill Murray's View on the Economy
- The World's Best Beers
- Steelers' Antonio Brown Spends Super Bowl Week with Twitter Fan Turned BFF
- Spent Keurig K-Cups Filling Up U.S. Landfills
- Greece Austerity Deal Runs Into Trouble Once Again
- Jobs You Can Do Forever
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Citi Retail Arm Targets Affluent Americans
Text Size 
Citigroup is to target wealthy US consumers in big cities with a revamped offering of accounts and credit cards, in the latest attempt to revive its North American retail bank.
 |
Mark Lennihan / AP |
The strategy, spearheaded by Manuel Medina-Mora, the unit’s chief, is a recognition that Citi needs to scrap its focus on the mass market in the US and cater for the richer customers it serves in its overseas operations. Citi has long been under pressure to improve the performance of the US retail bank, which is smaller and less profitable than competitors such as Bank of America [BAC
Loading...
()
], JPMorgan Chase [JPM
Loading...
()
] and Wells Fargo [WFC
Loading...
()
].
In an internal memo sent to staff on Wednesday, Mr Medina-Mora, a Mexico-born banker who heads Citi’s [C
Loading...
()
] Latin America business, said the bank would take “best practices and products from around the world and implement them in the US”.
Under Mr Medina-Mora’s plan, Citi will roll out its Citigold account, the flagship product of its international operations aimed at the affluent, in the US.
Unlike the no-frills accounts offered to US customers, Citigold aims to be a one-stop shop with a more personalised service and a wider offering of financial products. It often requires customers to hold a higher minimum balance than traditional accounts.
Mr Medina-Mora’s memo, which was obtained by the Financial Times, said Citi would overhaul its credit card offering and strengthen links between its commercial and retail units to cross-sell more products.
The document did not deal with Citi’s 1,000-strong branch network in the US, but executives have indicated the bank will close outlets in areas where it is underrepresented and focus on larger urban centres.
In an interview with the Financial Times in March, Vikram Pandit, Citi’s chief executive, said the “sweet spot” of the group’s retail operations would be in 100-plus global cities.
Citi’s North America consumer unit had profits of $84m in the first six months of 2010, an 83 per cent fall from the same period last year, although revenues recorded a 60 per cent year-on-year rise to $7.5bn.
The US retail bank accounts for a small part of Citi’s profits and Mr Pandit has repeatedly said the group’s future growth would come from outside the US. But the US consumer business holds about half of its total retail deposits, and its presence on US main streets is important for Citi’s image.
More from FT
- Actor Clint Eastwood responds to critics over the Chrysler Super Bowl ad and all the controversy.
- Here’s a look at Westminster Kennel Club’s most successful breeds and how much they cost.
- When looking for that next career move, workers need to look at the differences between a start-up and a public firm.
- After enduring the recession, many Baby Boomers say money isn’t the most important thing they hope to leave to their kids.
- The ‘Fast Money’ traders weigh in on fashion related stocks from apparel to footwear to accessories and fragrances.
- Attention, online shoppers. The days of tax-free online shopping may be coming to an end in many states.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
