Citibank Brand History

Citibank, founded in 1812, used to be known as the City Bank of New York, which was later changed to the First National City Bank of New York. These days, Citibank is a very large, international bank. Citibank is part of the financial giants Citigroup, which is one of the biggest companies in the world. Citibank is better known as the consumer banking arm of this economic giant. Citibank was the largest bank in the United States in terms of holding in 2007. In 2009, they are still close to being the top bank in the United States.

The first person to own and manage the City Bank of New York in 1812 was a man by the name of Samuel Osgood. Samuel Osgood was previously the Postmaster General of the United States. It was not long before the management of this bank was taken over by Moses Taylor. Moses Taylor was a protege of John Jacob Astor who was a nineteenth century business giant. During the time that Taylor was head of the bank, this establishment was mainly a treasury and finance center for Taylor’s business conglomeration. More than fifty years later, in 1863, this bank joined the United States’ newest national banking system and was then known as National City Bank of New York. In 1897, this bank was the first ever to establish a foreign department and a year prior to this it was also the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Not only does this bank have these firsts to brag about, but it was also the first bank to open an overseas office. In 1914, a branch of National City was opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A few years later in the year 1919, this bank was also the first bank to have one billion dollars in assets, which at the time was very impressive. In 1921, Charles E. Mitchell was elected president of the company and was made chairman in 1929. During the time that Mitchell ran the company, the bank expanded rapidly.

It was not until the 1970s that Citibank took on the name that it still has today. First National City Bank and the First National City Corporation were renamed Citibank and Citicorp. When this transition happened, all the shareholders of the bank were then shareholders of the new corporation. In November of 2008, Citibank had to be rescued by the United States government. There was an initial aid of twenty-five billion given to this corporation. There was another twenty-five billion invested in them afterwards. The Citigroup corporation now has about three hundred and six billion dollars in risky assets. As of now, Citibank is working on stabilizing itself once more in this economy. You can find branches of Citibank in over one hundred countries around the world. The larger part of Citibank’s offices that are in the United States can be found mostly in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and a few other major cities. This financial institutions offers not only all the standard banking transactions, but they also offer investment products, insurance and credit cards.

Source: http://money-helpers.com