Citigroup (C) 01 (May 08 - Nov 08)

[kennynah]

ishak....this one MER leh....you post under C Thread?

anyways, MER buy back scheme is effective Jan09....wah...by then, who knows what will happen...scarly, these ABS worth a lot more by then, who will be silly to sell back at par value...so, MER smart..give such a futuristic timeline...

[ishak]

Citi reorganises Asia unit by geography, product
REUTERS, 18 August 2008

HONG KONG - US financial services giant Citigroup on Monday unveiled a reorganisation of its Asia-Pacific business into four regions and seven product groupings under new Asia Chief Executive Ajay Banga.

Citigroup's Asia business will be split geographically into Japan, North Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia Pacific. For the first time, the regional heads will be responsible for all of Citigroup's business within those geographic areas.

The regional groupings will be supported by seven business groups: consumer banking and global cards; corporate and commercial banking; global transaction services; investment banking; markets; wealth management; and alternative investments.

Previously, Citigroup's Asia business was led by heads of its institutional clients group, global wealth management and consumer units.

Before Mr Banga's appointment in March, Citigroup did not have a region-wide chief executive.

'These changes to the Asia Pacific organisation will strengthen partnership between geographies and businesses,' Mr Banga said in a statement. 'It will leverage local expertise and thinking, eliminate management layers and provide growth opportunities for our best people.'

Under the new structure, Doug Peterson will continue to lead Japan. Stephen Bird, who ran consumer banking in Asia, will run North Asia and also continue to head consumer banking and global cards for all of Asia Pacific.

Sanjay Nayar will continue to lead South Asia and Piyush Gupta will lead Southeast Asia Pacific, the bank said.

On the product side, Farhan Faruqui will continue to head corporate and commercial banking; Anthony Nappi will continue to run global transaction services; Mark Renton and Dan McNamara will continue to head investment banking; and Rodrigo Zorrilla and David Ratliff will be co-heads for markets.

Aamir Rahim, who was previously co-head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, is the new head of global wealth management for the region.

Mr Banga will personally lead alternative investments, the bank said.

Citigroup has been among the biggest casualties of the subprime mortgage-related meltdown in the West and has been shedding jobs and non-core operations, although its Asia business has been a comparatively strong performer.

Citigroup's Asia operations have held steady at around 70,000 people since the start of the year as the bank has lost jobs in some areas and added headcount elsewhere.

[ishak]

XLF
15-Aug-08 ---- 133,799,600 - 21.36
14-Aug-08 ---- 129,822,100 - 21.21
13-Aug-08 ---- 229,197,800 - 20.57
12-Aug-08 ---- 191,147,000 - 21.18
11-Aug-08 ---- 161,362,700 - 22.31
8-Aug-08 ---- 176,616,200 - 21.94
7-Aug-08 ---- 188,973,500 - 21.21
6-Aug-08 ---- 141,946,200 - 22.31

Continue to hold SKF @ 115
XLF: 20.68
UYG: 20.42
SKF: 124.89
C: 17.77

Financials are back to dragging the market down.
Queue C @ 16.98

[ishak]

Buy Morgan Stanley, sell Citigroup: Goldman
Business Times - 20 Aug 2008

NEW YORK - Goldman Sachs & Co slashed its earnings outlooks for five major rivals on Tuesday, citing mounting write-downs on mortgages, a slowdown in overall activity, and legal expenses.

Analysts led by William Tanona reduced third-quarter and full-year forecasts for Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Merrill Lynch & Co and Morgan Stanley.

Lehman could lose US$9.65 per share for the year, versus a prior forecast for a loss of US$2.10 per share, the Goldman analysts said. Lehman may reduce its mortgage exposure in the third quarter by 20 per cent, or US$15 billion, which could lead to a US$2.5 billion to US$3.5 billion write-down, the analysts said. Its share-price target was cut to US$22 from US$40.

'We assume no or negative earnings for the majority of firms in our universe this quarter, and for some of our firms, the third quarter marks the fourth consecutive quarter of reported losses, clearly an unprecedented streak,' Mr Tanona wrote.

'Firms are clearly being more aggressive with asset sales and reducing their balance sheet exposure to troubled assets,' the analyst added. 'However, we believe a major recovery is still a few quarters away.'

Mr Tanona said results will also be affected as Citigroup, JPMorgan, Merrill and Morgan Stanley buy back billions of dollars of illiquid auction-rate securities from clients.

Citigroup, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have also agreed to regulatory fines over the debt, while Merrill has not.

Despite his outlook, Mr Tanona still recommends a trade in which investors buy Morgan Stanley shares and sell Citigroup shares short. He said Morgan Stanley is one of the brokers best positioned for a market turnaround, while Citigroup will remain heavily exposed to mortgages and consumer credit issues.

Mr Tanona lowered his third-quarter earnings-per-share forecasts as follows: Citigroup, to nil from 17 cents; JPMorgan, to 40 cents from 64 cents; Lehman, to a loss of US$2.75 from a profit of 68 cents; Merrill, to a loss of US$4.75 from a loss of US$4.40; and Morgan Stanley, to 85 cents from US$1.10.

He lowered his 2008 earnings-per-share forecasts as follows: Citigroup, to a loss of US$1.30 from a loss of US$1.10; JPMorgan, to US$2.30 from US$2.60; Lehman, to a loss of $9.65 from a loss of US$2.10; Merrill, to a loss of $10.25 from a loss of US$10.10; and Morgan Stanley, to US$4.45 from US$4.80.

Mr Tanona also lowered his 2009 earnings-per-share forecasts for JPMorgan, Lehman, Merrill and Morgan Stanley. He left his forecast for Citigroup unchanged.

In Tuesday trading, Citigroup shares closed down 43 cents, or 2.4 per cent, at US$17.19; JPMorgan fell $1.16, or 3.2 per cent, to US$35.58; Lehman slid US$1.96, or 13 per cent, to US$13.07; Merrill fell 92 cents, or 3.7 per cent, to US$23.82, and Morgan Stanley fell US$1.51, or 3.8 per cent, to US$38.08.

[millionairemind]

Reminds me of a certain organization that keeps asking its ppe. to restrict and cut costs, tighten your belts when the "CEO" is paid millions of dollars

Citigroup strives to cut costs
By Jonathan Sibun
Last Updated: 12:41am BST 26/08/2008

Citigroup is outlawing colour photocopying from internal meetings and banning expense claims for more than one mobile device in a desperate effort to crack down on costs.
New BlackBerries and flashy client parties will soon be history after the US investment bank warned staff they should be "challenging every dollar" spent.

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In a wide-ranging memo that puts cost-cutting centre stage, the bank instructs staff to ensure "presentations should be printed double-sided to reduce unnecessary paper usage". It adds: "Over time, we will be removing color copiers and printers from the locations where they are not essential."

The edict also applies to recruitment. "We can be successful in satisfying the vast majority of our hiring needs through the use of low- and no-fee sources - for example job boards, employee referrals," the bank said.

"Managing our expenses is not only a critical aspect of our strategy, it is also an important part of our jobs. Each of us must do our part to manage our expenses by challenging every dollar we spend."

Citigroup has been hit hard by the global credit crisis, having written off more than $40bn (£21.6bn) and laid off 12,000 staff worldwide.

[kennynah]

wayang process...to show they are making efforts to reduce ops costs...but these cannot be siginifcant cost cutting measures...print less, less parties, etc...they shd go ahead and chop another 10,000 heads

[la papillion]

It's funny that these big american companies are only starting to clamp down on these fringe costs when the company is in trouble. This is a red flag for me. You know, we don't just wake up one morning and say, oh, let's start cutting costs from today onwards. Cost cutting measures should be there from day 1!

[kennynah]

one way of looking at what lapap had just said is...they were very rich....very high margins... so high a margin, these ops costs...chicken feed... sup sup water...

like last time, when i was employed in a jap mnc... so solid top and bottom line, we have chauffers to drive us on our sales calls, unlimited entertainment expenses, quarterly company "dinner and drinks", etc... very luxurious...

hence C was a very profitable company before these subprime mess...and it could still rise from the ashes...given time..

[kennynah]

C at low $15 now...

[ishak]

XLF: 19.19
UYG: 17.71
SKF: 132.34
C: 15.2

Must admit the road looks downhill from here, wait and see.
Continue to hold SKF.