Citigroup $C is a U.S.-based global financial services company and one of the largest banks in the world by assets. Headquartered in New York City, it provides a wide range of financial products and services — including consumer banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management — to individuals, corporations, governments, and institutions across nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions.
The company was formed in 1998 through the merger of Citicorp, the holding company of Citibank, and Travelers $TRV Group, a financial conglomerate that also owned the investment bank Salomon Smith Barney. The deal, valued at roughly $70 billion at the time, was among the largest corporate mergers in history and created the first full-service financial institution combining commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance under one roof. Sanford "Sandy" Weill of Travelers Group and John Reed of Citicorp led the transaction.
Citibank, the consumer banking subsidiary, traces its roots to the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812, making the institutional lineage one of the oldest in American banking.
Citigroup is structured around two primary business segments: a services and banking division that handles institutional clients, corporate treasury, and transaction services; and a consumer division that includes branded cards and retail banking operations primarily in the U.S. and select international markets. The company is one of the few U.S. banks with a genuinely global consumer footprint, though it has periodically divested retail banking operations in specific countries to concentrate its international presence.
Citigroup is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol C and is classified as a global systemically important bank — a designation assigned by international regulators to institutions whose failure could pose a risk to the broader financial system. It is subject to enhanced capital and oversight requirements as a result of that classification.