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Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) or Citi is one of America's largest and most well known financial institutions. The multinational financial services corporation has its headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and is one of the "Big Four" banks in the United States, an elite group of institutions that together (as of 2009) hold 39% of all U.S. customer deposits. Citi was formed as the result of a 140 billion merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group in 1998, creating the world's largest financial services organization with assets of almost $700 billion. The merger allowed cross marketing between Travelers, offering mutual funds and insurance, and Citicorp's banking divisions, giving both companies direct access to qualified consumers. Citi is currently ranked by Forbes as the tenth largest company in the world by composite index.

The third largest bank in the world today, Citigroup, by total assets, was the largest bank and company in the world until the financial crisis of 2008. During that crisis, Citi, along with many other financial institutions, suffered massive losses totaling in the billions, prompting the company's leaders to petition for government rescue aid. Although Citi received a bailout stimulus package from the federal government in November 2008, by December 2010 Citi repaid the emergency aid in full. In addition to repaying the emergency funds, the federal government received an additional $12 billion in profit from the sale of the company shares it acquired in the bailout agreement.

As a company, Citi has two major business segments - Citicorp and Citi Holdings.

Citi Corp provides:

Regional Consumer Banking -

Retail and local commercial bankingCiti personal wealth managementCiti-branded cards, retail partner cardsAsset management (Latin America)

Institutional Clients Group -

Securities and bankingTransaction services

Citi Holdings provides:

Brokerage and asset managementLocal consumer lendingSpecial asset pool of exclusive institutional and consumer bank portfolios

As a result of the multitude of financial products and services offered and the multiple markets serves, Citi has a number of brands. Citi brands include:

Citi

Citibank

One Main Financial (formerly known as CitiFinancial)

CitiMortgage

Citi Capital Advisors

Citi Cards

Citi Private Bank - finance, banking, investment, trust and advisory services for wealthy individuals

Citi Institutional Clients Group - investment and commercial banking services

Citi Investment Research

Citi Microfinance - works with the microfinance sector to broaden the reach of financial services

Banamex - Mexico's largest commercial bank

Woman & Co. - membership program that addresses the unique financial facts of women's lives.

At the United States Prime Rate website you can review and apply for Citi credit cards.

The Zero APR CC website lists all the best Citi balance transfer credit cards.

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