| Citibank/Citigroup | 399 Park Ave., New York, NY 10043 |
| www.citibank.com | (800) 285-3000 Fax: (212) 793-3946 |
 |
|
Founded in 1812 by Samuel Osgood, the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury, the City Bank of New York began by serving cotton, sugar, metal, and coal merchants and became a pioneer in overseas expansion in the early 20th century. More recently, Citibank became the first commercial bank to make personal loans, the first to provide high-interest, specified-term CDs, and the first to introduce ATMs on a large scale.
In April 1998, Citicorp, Citibank's holding company, stunned the financial world when it announced its plans to merge with Travelers Group to create Citigroup, Inc. The new entity will offer one-stop shopping to its customers, whether they be institutional investors in need of derivatives to hedge bets on the market, or homeowners looking for a mortgage. The U.S. Federal Reserve, anticipating likely changes in federal banking law, gave its conditional approval to the merger in September, and trading of the group's stocks began on October 8, 1998.
Citigroup's debut was clouded, however, by reports of huge losses overseas, diminishing the group's net income by more than half the earnings from both companies in the same 1997 quarter. Moreover, news reports in September 1998 indicated that 8000 jobs would be chopped from Citigroup's various operations. The report followed up on August's layoffs at Citicorp's corporate bond-trading department, an area in which Traveler's Salomon Smith Barney is much stronger. The chaos hasn't ceased. Conflicts over the future of Salomon Smith Barney led to the departure of Wall Street darling Jamie Dimon and Citigroup exec Stephen Black in November 1998, triggering a downgrade of the company by several Wall Street analysts. Dimon recieved a separation package worth an estimated $30 million. In return, the bank's former president agreed to restrictions of up to three years on his ability to hire away Citigroup staff.
Given the scale of the deal, it's clear that fundamental changes are in store for Citibank and other divisions of Citicorp. Nevertheless, it's equally clear that Citibank will remain one of the foremost divisions of Citigroup. The only full-service consumer banking company with a truly global reach, Citibank has over 1200 branches in 97 countries around the world.
Legendary for its ability to use the latest technology to make life easier for its customers, Citibank has actively developed web-based banking services. Overall, the bank is making good progress toward the mission developed by Citigroup co-CEO John Reed: to transform the Citibank name into an internationally recognized and trusted brand name like Coca-Cola or Xerox. Groups focusing on specific industry segments at each firm are being integrated, and the firms' trading operations will eventually be combined at one site. Industry observers say a successful end-result will likely spur similar mergers in the future.
Citibank is also the world's largest issuer of credit cards, a position cemented by the bank's acquisition of AT&T's Universal Card Services. But the company's interests are not limited to banking and credit: in December 1999, Citigroup announced a deal with Boston-based State Street Corp. to form a joint venture, called Citistreet, to sell 401(k) retirement plan services. Owned 50-50 by each partner, Citistreet anticipates revenue of $300 million in 2000.
Lonely at the top
Citigroup saw significant management shake-up in late 1999-early 2000. In October 1999, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin joined the firm as chair of the executive committee as well as part of the chairman's office. Rubin, described by The Wall Street Journal as "one of the world's most coveted financiers," denied reports that he sought the Citigroup CEO post. Speculation that he was to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was stamped out when Greenspan was approved for another term of watching the U.S. economy and scaring Wall Street with his interest rate policy.
The chairman's office got a little smaller in February 2000. Co-chairman and CEO John Reed announced his retirement, effective April 2000. While observers said that former Citicorp CEO Reed, and Sanford Weill, formerly head of Travelers Group, had personality and style clashes, Reed proclaimed he merely sought the peace and quiet of retirement. However, the two did have some disagreements that were made public. For example, the job descriptions for both were more clearly defined in July 1999, reportedly after the two butted heads. Weill assumed day-to-day control and Reed headed Citigroup's Internet and technology initiatives. A Wall Street Journal article, published in April 2000, suggested the split was far more contentious than anyone had previously indicated. The Journal suggested that Weill and Reed were consistently at adds with one another over issues varying from the company's Internet strategy to the departure of Jamie Dimon, co-head of Citigroup's global corporate and investment bank and Weill's protege. Dimon left in the fall of 1998. Additionally, the presence of two CEOs was disruptive to Citigroup senior management, and executives complained on several occasions. The issue finally came to a head in late February 2000, when the board of directors debated for several hours the fate to the company's two CEOs. At one point, said The Journal, a compromise was offered: Reed would stay as non-executive chairman and Weill would be CEO. Reed rejected that compromise and the board unanimously voted to ask Reed to retire.
Rubin once again denied any interest in the CEO job, saying in a statement at the time of Reed's departure "I said I had no intention of being a CEO and I will not be a CEO." Incidentally, Reed's announcement came less than a week after Citigroup CFO Heidi Miller left for e-commerce firm Priceline.com. While a shake-up of this magnitude is never good for any firm, analysts don't expect any long-term problems. The CFO post was filled in March 2000 by Todd Thomson, formerly CEO of Citigroup's Global Private Bank division, and Citigroup announced they would begin a search for a CEO to take Weill's place when he retires, supposedly in 2002.
New merger
In January 2000, Citigroup announced it was buying London-based investment bank Schroders P.L.C. for about $2.2 billion. The purchase is being structured as a merger between Salomon Smith Barney, Citigroup's I-banking division. The combined company will be known as Schroders Salomon Smith Barney in Europe, while in the U.S., the smaller Schroder & Company unit will be folded into Salomon. The merger will result in a huge loss of jobs for Schroders employees in the U.S., where there is significant overlap between the two companies.
Teaming up with AOL
In July 2000 AOL struck a deal with Citigroup to ease credit card payments and other financial transactions over the Internet. Citigroup, currently the largest financial services company in the US, would become a "clearinghouse" for financial transactions across all of AOL's brands; it would also promote AOL services to its customers. Financial details of the multi-year deal were not revealed.
Pushing into cyberspace
Some might remember the introduction of ATMS in the 1970s as Citigroup's last technogically innovative move, but the company began a major effort to transform itself into a key financial player online in 2000. Investing more than $400 million in its Internet effort, the company announced in July a new service that would consolidate all of a customer's financial accounts on a single Web sit, as well as a deal with AOL. Future plans included CitiTrade, an online brokerage service offering trading and research, and an upgrade of Citibank DirectAccess, the online banking service. Though CitiGroup hopes to make a big splash, it must keep its eyes on the Yahoo!s and AOLs that could easily begin offer financial services.
|
|
Each year, about 150 Citibank hires take full time jobs at the bank via its Global Management Associate Program. The process is generally formal, beginning on campus followed by a "super-Saturday" style affair, where candidates are shuffled from one office to another for usually five 30 minute interviews with associates and VPs. One contact characterized her interview as "pleasant" and "not very stressful," but don't expect a chat over coffee - Citibank interviewers will give out brainteasers, which, in the words of our contact "sound like they probably got them out of a book."
Outside of the Management Associate Program, such as branch management or personal banking, the job-seeking process is less formal - one of our contacts, for example, reports obtaining an interview simply "by picking up the telephone book and calling someone at Citibank."
For those one year from graduation, Citibank offers Summer Associate programs in Global Consumer Global Corporate, Operations and Technology, and in the bank's Advanced Development Group. The Global Consumer Bank's summer program rotates its summer hires through different areas, while in Global Corporate, summers choose one particular area and work there for the duration of their internship. Citibank also offers internships during the semester which may count for credit.
Those interested in working at a particular branch should direct their inquiries to the branch manager of that branch. If no opportunities are currently available at that branch, the branch manager will direct the applicant to Citibank's main Search & Staffing Department, where his or her resume will be kept on file. When a branch manager contacts Search & Staffing to fill an opening, he or she receives a list of appropriate resumes that Search & Staffing has on file. The branch manager then selects the most appealing resume and arranges for an interview; sometimes, two or three branch managers with openings will interview a pool of applicants jointly, and decide which candidates are most appropriate for the different branches.
|
|
Employees remark that the defining feature of Citibank's corporate culture is its "international and cosmopolitan" flavor. "If you want to spend your whole life in New Jersey, this may not be the best place for you. But if you're a go-getter and you want to do business in Chile or Singapore, welcome to Citibank," says one branch manager. Another insider agrees, noting that "if you want to make it here, you have to spend some time abroad."
Surveys reveal that associates perceive wide variation between offices around the world, and even between different offices in the same city. One contact even characterizes the differences as "staggering." Nevertheless, some patterns emerge, notably regarding the importance that is placed on a competitive spirit. One contact from the corporate side describes considerable pressure to meet certain goals in equity returns: "it's part of the culture to make sure you meet those targets." Another contact with experience in an office in Africa describes a "high performance culture," where "people wanted to outshine one another. It was very key to be seen as delivering." The same contact warns: "you'll be very challenged because you're looking over your shoulder all the time." Another notes the pressure "always to excel in order to progress - or even just to keep your job."
The antidote to competition? "Be nice," advises one insider. "There is so much competition and back-stabbing among staff" that if you plan on making steady advancements through the company hierarchy, "a solid personal network of friends and cronies" is "absolutely essential." Another insider notes that a disadvantage to Citibank's size is "the bureaucracy, and there's politics." When pressed to explain, this contact says: "people are territorial. They stake their claims on certain areas, and want to hold onto those areas." "They're not afraid to reorganize and cut things," this person explains, adding: "you can't freak out every time you hear of a reorganization - that's why it gets political. You want to have a job at the end of the day."
Given Citibank's global reach, it comes as no surprise that the bank gets high marks for the diversity of its people. One contact beams "diversity [at Citibank] is huge. I can't imagine working in a more diverse environment in terms of international." Indeed, contacts frequently describe their colleagues as hailing from all corners of the globe. One insider notes that "we work all over the world, and we want to look like the world." The company also donated $115 billion in 1998 for investments in low income communities. However, one individual who worked on the corporate banking side praises the bank's international diversity, but admits that regarding members of minority groups, the securities business at Citibank "isn't any more diverse than any other investment bank, which is to say, not very diverse at all."
The dress code at Citibank is "generally the corporate type - part of the whole image of a conservative banker you can trust with your money," employees say. However, like perks and corporate culture, the dress code also varies considerably throughout the corporation, and is at its most formal "whenever the slightest client interaction is involved." During the summer months, Citibank maintains a "casual Friday" policy in most of its offices.
|
|
Lawrence R. Phillips
Human Resources
(212) 657-2200
|
|
American Express;BankAmerica;Chase Manhattan;First Union;Wells Fargo
More Company Profiles
For more career information, go to Vault.com
©2000, Vault.com Inc
Click here to email this page to a friend  |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||