Citigroup Inc. (C) Business Profile

What it does

Citigroup is a global financial services holding company serving consumers, corporations, governments and institutions. Its businesses provide consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, trade and securities services, and wealth management. It was founded in 1812 and is headquartered at 388 Greenwich Street. Jane Fraser is chair and chief executive officer.

For individuals, Citi offers banking, credit cards and wealth management. For institutional clients, it provides services that include lending, financing, securities and trade services. Its Markets business includes fixed-income and equity activities, while its Banking business includes investment banking and corporate lending.

Citi organizes its activities into five businesses: Services, Markets, Banking, Wealth and U.S. consumer cards. Activities outside those segments are included in All Other. In the first quarter of 2026, Citi moved Retail Banking from U.S. Personal Banking to Wealth. It integrated the remaining U.S. Personal Banking businesses, including Branded Cards and Retail Services, into a new U.S. Consumer Cards segment.

Citi’s stated vision includes being a banking partner for institutions with cross-border needs, providing wealth management globally and serving personal banking customers in the U.S. Its businesses operate in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions.

How it makes money

Citi earns net interest income from activities that include lending, investing and raising deposits. It also reports non-interest revenue, including commissions and fees. Its businesses generate revenue across consumer banking, institutional services, markets and investment banking.

Services includes trade and securities services. Markets includes fixed-income activities such as rates, currencies and spread products, as well as equity derivatives, equity cash and prime services. Banking includes corporate lending and investment banking, with debt capital markets, equity capital markets and advisory businesses. Wealth includes Retail Banking following its transfer in the first quarter of 2026. U.S. Consumer Cards includes Branded Cards and Retail Services.

In 2025, Citi’s increase in net interest income reflected increases in Markets, Services, U.S. Personal Banking and Wealth, partly offset by declines in All Other and Banking. Non-interest revenue declined, with decreases in All Other, Markets and U.S. Personal Banking largely offset by increases in Banking, Wealth and Services. Citi’s average loans were $716 billion in 2025, and its average deposits were approximately $1.4 trillion.

For 2025, Citi reported revenue of $85.2 billion and net income of $14.3 billion; for the second quarter of 2026, it reported net income of $5.8 billion.

For the second quarter of 2026, Services reported a 13% increase in cross-border transactions and a 19% increase in deposits. Banking revenue climbed 34%, led by financing activity, and Wealth revenue increased 13%. Citi acquired the AA Barclays portfolio in April 2026.

Customers and how it sells

Citi serves consumers alongside corporations, governments and institutions. Its institutional customers use services across lending, markets, trade and securities. Its individual customers use personal banking, cards and wealth services.

The company does business in nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions. Within its international operations, it organizes activities into clusters covering the United Kingdom; Japan, Asia North and Australia; Latin America; Asia South; Europe; and the Middle East, Africa and Russia. Mexico is included in Latin America.

Citi uses retail branches as well as its institutional network to reach customers. Following the integration of Retail Banking into Wealth, referrals from the retail bank to Citigold were up 23% in the second quarter of 2026. Citi also reported $30 billion of net new investment assets for the year to that point, with almost 2/3 coming from deeper relationships with existing clients.

Citi identified BlackRock as a recent Securities Services win. In the second quarter of 2026, its assets under custody and administration rose over 20% as it onboarded funds and deepened existing relationships.

Suppliers and costs

Citi’s operating expenses include compensation and benefits, technology and communications, transactional and product servicing, and deposit insurance. It also pays transaction-processing fees, primarily to credit card networks. Certain processing fees are presented as reductions to commissions and fees revenue rather than as operating expenses.

Operating expenses were $55.1 billion in 2025, up 3% from the prior year. The increase included higher compensation and benefits, technology and communications, and transactional and product servicing expenses. It also included a goodwill impairment related to the Banamex stake sale. Lower deposit insurance expenses and restructuring charges partly offset those increases.

Citi’s transformation-related expenses rose to approximately $3.3 billion in 2025, largely because of increased spending on data and controls. Citi expects transformation investments to remain significant in 2026 and beyond but to decline over time. It also reported $10.3 billion of total provisions for credit losses and for benefits and claims in 2025.

Competitive position

Citi competes across institutional financial services, markets, wealth management and consumer banking. No company is identified as a direct competitor in the supplied evidence. Citi faces competitive challenges from an evolving business environment and emerging technologies; it also says legal or regulatory requirements may prevent it from providing the same or similar products and services.

Citi says its global network supports cross-border client activity. In the second quarter of 2026, Services reported increases in cross-border transactions and deposits, while assets under custody and administration rose as it onboarded funds and deepened relationships. Citi also reported institutional market share gains and increased client wins, without providing a total market share.

Our reading: The international network is a potential competitive advantage because it connects Citi with institutional clients across many jurisdictions, although the evidence does not establish its strength relative to named rivals. Our reading: Existing client relationships may support further business, as shown by the investment assets brought in through deeper Wealth relationships, but they do not eliminate the risk of competition or technological change.

Growth opportunities

Citi is investing in its institutional businesses, Wealth and U.S. consumer cards. In Banking, it is investing in talent to fill coverage gaps and gain share, including in mergers and acquisitions. In the second quarter of 2026, investment banking revenue was up 44%, and Citi described its pipeline entering the second half as healthy.

In Wealth, Citi is combining its retail bank with wealth services to encourage customers with deposits to use wealth products. It is also seeking to capture wealth creation through its global network and relationships. Wealth revenue increased 13% in the second quarter of 2026, and client investment assets were up 14%.

In consumer cards, Citi plans to increase marketing spending for customer acquisition and is investing in products, partnerships and AI. It acquired the AA Barclays portfolio in April 2026. Citi is also applying AI to its businesses and says it is bringing Payment Express and Citi Wealth Advisor Insights to market faster.

Citi expects to deconsolidate its Banamex ownership in early 2027, followed by an initial public offering when market conditions allow and further stake sales. It does not expect additional sales in 2026.

Structural risks

• Economic and market conditions: Recessions, higher unemployment, inflation and financial-market disruption can affect Citi’s customers, credit costs, businesses and results. Geopolitical and policy uncertainty can also affect funding costs and provisions.
• Credit losses: Citi lends to consumers and corporations and has exposures to public-sector borrowers and other counterparties. Defaults, credit-rating downgrades or declines in collateral value can expose it to losses. Corporate loans were $344 billion at December 31, 2025.
• Regulation and transformation: Citi continues work on its risk, controls, data and technology infrastructure. It may face challenges satisfying regulators’ expectations for the sufficiency and timing of that work, particularly in data governance and regulatory reporting. Regulators may also identify additional issues.
• Capital and liquidity: Citi’s ability to return capital depends substantially on regulatory capital requirements and stress testing, as well as its results and financial condition. Its businesses and results could also be harmed if it does not effectively manage liquidity.
• Operational and cyber risk: Failures of processes or systems can disrupt services and harm customers and Citi’s reputation. Citi and some third-party partners have faced attempted and sometimes successful cyberattacks, including denial-of-service attacks, hacking and data breaches.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Citi combines a cross-border institutional franchise with U.S. consumer cards and wealth management, earning revenue from both interest-related activity and services. Its global network and existing client relationships support the business, while credit exposure, regulatory requirements and the work needed to improve controls remain central considerations. (item1; item7; item1a; call_prepared)