Citi Bank Project Essays - Citigroup, Citibank, Wachovia

Citibank, a Citigroup company, has set a goal to be the premier international financial company in the next millennium. The public relations efforts of Citibank start with a website. Citibank.com gives all the customers from around the world access to their banking and enables them to do everything that they do in the bank online. They also support to a lot of charities and do a lot of sponsorship organizations. I think the campaign that Citibank runs to be the good citizen corporation are very effective. Citibank keeps high financial results. Citibank has had some good PR opportunities. Examples of these are The Catholic Charities Brooklyn Funding and program delivery occurs at both the corporate and local levels. Services include: consumer health education (via print, classroom and intranet-based delivery); preventive screenings and immunizations; behavior change, fitness and work conditioning programs; and targeted interventions for those at risk or with chronic medical conditions. There is also some bad publicity surrounding Citibank. Some examples are Citibank ran a lockdown of ATM cards for customer traveling or otherwise in Canada, Europe or Russia. Apparently, the network had been hacked. Unfortunately, Citibank seems somewhat lacking as some reported Citibank failed to notify them before they used their card to attempt to retrieve money, Despite Citibank's recently publicized policy of not doing business with firms "that manufacture or sell military weapons, military munitions or firearms," new information indicates the New York-based global banking giant may be selective about enforcing its own policy. Though company spokesmen have denied Citibank pursues "business relationships" with such firms, a newly discovered press release tells a different story. Dated Nov. 30, 1999, the release states that Sanford I. Weill, 66, chairman and co-chief executive officer of Citigroup, was elected to the board of directors of United Technologies Corporation, a company that manufactures Pratt & Whitney engines for jet fighters, as well as Sikorsky helicopters for the military and other "aerospace and defense products." Citigroup is the parent company of Citibank and Travelers, and the most recently bad publicity about Citibank is Citibank previously teamed up with the FDIC to pick off Wachovia's banking operation for $2.2 billion. Four days after the deal was announced, Wells Fargo loaded up the stagecoach, buying Wachovia as a whole for $15 billion. The FDIC shrugged its shoulders, glad not to have pay $42 billion to secure against losses, and let Wells Fargo proceed with the takeover.