BANKING
JANUARY 22, 2023
Brief Timeline Of Citibank
As one of the largest banks in the world, Citibank has many kind of financial products and services for public for more than a century.
Citibank is the retail division of Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 under the name City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Bank of New York. The bank has 2,649 branches in 19 countries, including 723 branches in the United States and 1,494 branches in Mexico, which are operated by its subsidiary, Banamex.
City Bank of New York was established on June 16, 1812. City Bank’s first president was a retired colonel, Samuel Osgood. After Osgood died in August 1813, William Few served as president of the bank until 1817, when it was succeeded by Peter Stagg (1817–1825).
In 1831, City Bank was the site of one of America’s first bank robberies, when two robbers took thousands of dollars in cash and 398 doubloons.
In 1865, the bank joined the United States national banking system under the National Bank Act and changed its name to National City Bank of New York. In 1893, National City became the largest bank in New York, and a year later, it became the largest bank in the United States.
After the Central Bank Act allowed it, National City Bank became the first national bank from the United States to open an office outside the United States, namely in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1914.
Until March 9, 1921, there were four national banks in New York City, namely Catham and Phoenix National, Mechanics and Metals National, Irving National, and National City Bank.
Charles E. Mitchell, who was usually called “Sunshine” Charlie Mitchell, was then elected president of this bank in 1921. In 1929, he was appointed chairman until 1933. Under Mitchell’s leadership, this bank grew rapidly and by 1930 had has 100 branches in 23 countries outside the United States.
The policies implemented by this bank are also considered by some to be the main cause of the stock market crash in 1929, which later led to the Great Depression.
In 1933, a Senate committee, the Pecora Commission, investigated Mitchell’s role in millions of dollars in losses, overpayments, and tax evasion, which led to his resignation.
In 1967, First National City Bank was reorganized under a holding company called First National City Corporation, or “Citicorp” for short. However, the bank has been commonly referred to as “Citibank” since the 1860s, when the City Bank of New York began using Citibank as its telex address.
First National City Corporation was officially renamed “Citicorp” in 1974, and First National City Bank was officially renamed Citibank, N.A in 1976. The name change was also made to avoid confusion in Ohio, with National City Corp. which is headquartered in Cleveland, although the two do not do much business in the same sector.
As a result of the 2007–2012 financial crisis and the drastic decline in the value of its subprime mortgage credit assets, Citigroup, the parent of Citibank, also received a bailout in the form of investment from the United States Department of Finance.
As of March 2010, CitiGroup is the third largest bank holding company in the United States by total assets, after Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. Citibank has retail banking operations more than 100 countries worldwide. More than half 1.400 offices are located in the United States.
Also in 2010, Citibank managed to pay off all loans from the Ministry of Finance and their interest.
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