I see Citibank is still in trouble even after the United States bailed
it out -

Citigroup's move to slash 11,000 jobs may presage bigger cuts

The bank's job reductions, combined with a $1-billion write-down,
amounts to what analysts say is the start of larger cutbacks for Citi in
coming years.
Citigroup's restructuring includes closures of 44 U.S. consumer banking
branches. Four California branches will close Dec. 14. Affected
customers have been notified of the closures in North Hollywood, Santa
Rosa, Fresno and at John Wayne Airport, a spokeswoman said. Above, a
Citi office in New York.

- - -

NEW YORK — Citigroup's move to sack more than 11,000 workers may
foreshadow bigger cuts as its newly installed chief executive shakes up
the lumbering Wall Street behemoth.

The New York bank's restructuring — coupled with a $1-billion write-down
in the fourth quarter — came as Citi, like other financial giants,
suffers through a hangover from the housing meltdown and struggles to
adjust to the resulting regulations.

"This is simply just the beginning," said Todd Hagerman, an analyst at
Sterne Agee. Restructuring on Wall Street, as firms prune non-core
businesses, is "going to be fairly painful over the next several years."

A $1-billion charge might otherwise throw cold water on a company's
stock. But investors clearly approved of Citi's restructuring, which
came sooner than analysts expected — only seven weeks into Michael
Corbat's tenure as CEO. Citi stock jumped $2.17, or 6.3%, closing
Wednesday at $36.46.

Corbat took Citi's helm after Vikram Pandit's abrupt departure from the
CEO suite in October, following a long-simmering dispute with the bank's
board of directors. Analysts saw Citi's layoffs as a much-needed first
step, though not enough to satisfy restive investors.

- - -

***It's too bad Citibank is "too big to fail," because it is a failed
institution and it ought to be shut down.***


Previously, in the great banking disaster of 2007, 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.
On November 4, 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 to 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.[13]

On November 23, 2008, Citigroup was forced to seek federal financing to
avoid a collapse similar to those suffered by its competitors Bear
Stearns and AIG. The U.S. government provided $25 billion and guarantees
to risky assets to Citigroup in exchange for stock. This was one of a
series of companies receiving financial aid from the government that
began with Bear Stearns and peaked with the collapse of Lehman, AIG, and
the GSE's, and the start of the TARP program.

On January 16, 2009, Citigroup announced that it was splitting into two
businesses. Citicorp will continue with the traditional banking business
while Citi Holdings Inc. operates non-core businesses such as brokerage,
asset management, and local consumer finance as well as managing a set
of higher-risk assets. The split was presented as allowing Citibank to
concentrate on its core banking business.[14]




Citibank 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.

On November 4, 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 to 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.

On November 23, 2008, Citigroup was forced to seek federal financing to
avoid a collapse similar to those suffered by its competitors Bear
Stearns and AIG. The U.S. government provided $25 billion and guarantees
to risky assets to Citigroup in exchange for stock. This was one of a
series of companies receiving financial aid from the government that
began with Bear Stearns and peaked with the collapse of Lehman, AIG, and
the GSE's, and the start of the TARP program.

On January 16, 2009, Citigroup announced that it was splitting into two
businesses. Citicorp will continue with the traditional banking business
while Citi Holdings Inc. operates non-core businesses such as brokerage,
asset management, and local consumer finance as well as managing a set
of higher-risk assets. The split was presented as allowing Citibank to
concentrate on its core banking business.

- - -

Around 1970, when I was working for a pretty big Detroit financial PR
firm, one of my clients was a large mortgage banker for whom we
published two nice quarterly periodicals, one on U.S. Housing Markets
and the other on U.S. Commercial Construction Markets. I wrote the
narratives and the news releases, and we had a statistics professor at a
local university doing the number crunching. The stock for the mortgage
banker was locally traded at around $6.00 a share. Most of the shares
were held by the family that started the mortgage banking business and a
couple of its senior employees. Two of us at the PR firm had a little
stock, not much, a thousand shares in the hands of my boss and I think I
had about 100 shares. It was a very profitable business.

Well, the CEO of the mortgage banking firm was romanced by First
National City Corp, and he agreed to sell the business to the bank for
$29 a share in cash. Management stayed in place, at least for as long as
I was in Detroit. I don't know what happened afterwards, except I recall
that the big bank was later required to divest itself of that mortgage
banking business.

It's too bad Citibank lost its way and became just another trashy modern
banking business.