Citibank 2012 Annual Report Download - page 6

4
Letter to Shareholders
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
2012 was a momentous year for our company — our 200th, a
milestone few institutions ever reach. We celebrated on every
continent and in virtually every country, highlighted by our
Global Community Day on June 16, the anniversary of our
founding. On that day 200 years later, more than 110,000 of
our people, in 93 countries, celebrated our anniversary by
giving back to the communities we serve.
I’ve been with Citi or its predecessors my entire career —
nearly 30 years — and I was especially proud to be a part of
our rich legacy on that day. It was a stirring reminder of the
talent and character of our dedicated people, whom I am
proud to lead.
I welcome the chance to put 2012 into perspective and, more
important, to outline my agenda for 2013 and beyond.
Our anniversary was a terrific celebration — but last year
also provided its share of disappointments. We had some
significant charges throughout the year that hurt our bottom
line. Some we took in order to continue putting legacy issues
behind us. And we believe that the repositioning actions
announced in December will help us in the long run as we
increase the focus and efficiency of our operations. Our core
operating performance continues to improve, but it’s clear —
especially from our fourth quarter results — that we still have
work to do.
When I became CEO in October, I set myself three main
objectives to accomplish by the beginning of the year: conduct
business reviews and prepare the 2013 budget; select my
management team; and finalize and submit our capital plan
to our regulators. Throughout those months, I also spent
a good amount of time meeting with our stakeholders:
clients, investors, regulators and, of course, our people. The
conversations were almost universally encouraging about our
franchise and about the direction of this historic firm.
These important tasks now complete, we look ahead to
building on Citi’s great heritage. Let me, then, describe to you
where I think we are today, lay out where we want to go and
explain my plan for how we’ll get there.
The state of our firm is in many ways very strong. Our strategy
is well-aligned with three dominant, long-term secular trends:
globalization, urbanization and digitization.
Growth has shifted from being largely a phenomenon in the
developed world to being increasingly concentrated in the
emerging markets. In fact, between 2008 and 2012, 45% of
the world’s growth occurred in just one country: China. We’re
ahead of our peers in shifting toward these fast-growing
markets because no other bank can match our presence and
experience. And we’re in a position to seize key opportunities
as our competitors pull back. Not only do we have the most
extensive global network of any bank, we also bring to the table
decades of experience in some of the world’s key markets.
More and more people are moving into cities, and every year
the share of GDP produced in urban centers grows. Today,
fully 80% of the world’s GDP is generated in urban centers.
And cities are not reflected just in our name — they’re in
our blood. We’ve identified over 150 cities — which together
produce 32% of global GDP — that fit our business model and
represent where we think many of the coming opportunities
will emerge. We already have a presence in more than 80%
of them, with plans for the rest. As a company, we’ve often
spoken of our presence in more than 100 countries — which is
vital to our success — but in the future, you’ll hear us talking
more about the cities.
Finally, digitization is not just about websites and apps and
other customer-facing elements — though these are very
important. Digitization will continue to revolutionize our
entire industry, front office to back, and transform the way
clients — from individuals to big institutions — interact with
us and utilize our offerings. We’ve done a great deal around
Smart Banking on the consumer side — and are recognized
as industry leaders — while also building better platforms for
our institutional clients. There’s much more to do, but we feel
good about where we are today.
In addition to our network, we offer world-class products and
services and employ top talent. We’ve restructured most of
our company. In a sector that continues to deleverage, we
began that process more than four years ago and are ahead of
many of our peers.
2012 Revenues: $71 billion
By Region By Business
GCB
57%
CTS
15%
S&B
28%
NA
42%
ASIA
21%
LATAM
21%
EMEA
16%
GCB — Global Consumer Banking
S&B — Securities and Banking
CTS — Citi Transaction Services
NA — North America
EMEA — Europe, Middle East and Africa
LATA M — Latin America
2012 Citicorp Revenues
Regional results exclude Corporate/Other.