Citigroup to shed nearly $500B in assets
By MADLEN READ,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-09 12:36:47
NEW YORK (AP) - Citigroup Inc. said Friday it aims to shed about
$500 billion in assets and grow revenue by 9 percent over the next
few years, as it tries to rebound from massive losses tied to
deterioration in the mortgage and credit markets.
The plans are the most concrete yet by Vikram Pandit, nearing
his five-month anniversary as the bank's CEO, to prove himself a
capable turnaround specialist at a company that many claim was
struggling long before the housing market collapse.
The bank's plans to wind down its $2.2 trillion in assets to
approximately $1.7 trillion were part of an investor day
presentation at one of Citigroup's Manhattan offices.
These so-called "legacy assets" included yet-to-be-named
noncore businesses, as well as assets in Citigroup's securities and
consumer banking segments, including mortgages and other real
estate-related holdings.
Already, the bank has written down assets tied to soured debt by
some $38 billion since last summer. It has also announced plans to
reduce its residential mortgage assets by $45 billion over the
coming year, and has recently sold businesses including
CitiCapital, CitiStreet and Diners Club. All of those write-downs
and sales are included in the larger $500 billion figure.
The anticipated rise in revenue will derive largely from cutting
costs - which Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden said will
mean more job reductions. Citi has so far lowered its work force by
13,200 people since last summer.
Citigroup has been under heavy investor scrutiny over the past
year as the value of its stock tumbled. Many Citigroup holders have
been angling for a large-scale overhaul of the company's structure.
Those shareholders' hopes, however, are dwindling, with
executives apparently largely keeping the bank's major parts
intact.
Pandit did emphasize, "Our structure is different." But he
also said, "We believe the right model is a global universal
bank."
Citigroup executives pointed out several shortcomings at the
bank that need to be fixed. And it introduced a new slogan as part
of its revamping efforts: "Citi never sleeps."
But the road to recovery is going to be a difficult one.
Most analysts believe that while the bulk of the bank's
write-downs are through, there are still at least some more to
come. In a note Thursday, Deutsche Bank analyst Mike Mayo estimated
that Citigroup's $29 billion bucket of mortgage investments and
related structured products has the potential to result in another
$15 billion write-down.
And given that Citigroup has $63 billion in exposure to home
equity loans, $150 billion to mortgages, $21 billion to auto loans,
and other exposure to consumer loans such as credit cards, Mayo
estimated that the bank will have to build up its reserves by an
additional $5 billion.
Amid substantial turmoil in the credit markets, Citigroup
generated $13.22 billion in revenue during the first quarter - 48
percent less than the $25.46 billion it generated during the first
three months of 2007.
Citigroup shares were unchanged at midday Friday. The stock is
down 17.5 percent in 2008 and 55.1 percent over the last 12 months.
AP Business Writer Stephen Bernard in New York contributed to
this report.
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05/09/08 12:36 EDT