The basics of banking.

At Citi, we know that the essential role of a bank is to help customers save, invest, spend, borrow and protect their money with trust and confidence. A sharp focus on those basics since our founding nearly 200 years ago made Citi a great institution, winning the business of millions of customers in America and around the world. As I told shareholders at Citi's annual meeting earlier today, we're focusing our energies on these critical functions.

Our effort starts with understanding our customers and meeting their needs. We're proving this commitment by recognizing the challenges of the current environment and offering customers who are facing financial hardship a range of targeted programs to deal with their circumstances. Since the start of the U.S. housing crisis in 2007 through the first quarter of 2010, Citi has helped more than 900,000 homeowners in their effort to avoid potential foreclosure. Citi has also been helping nearly 1.7 million credit card members manage their card debt through a variety of forbearance programs.

We are also engaged in prudent lending as a way to stimulate the kind of job creation our economy needs. During 2009, Citi provided $439 billion in new credit in the United States, in part with TARP funds. We lend to businesses of all sizes, and have a renewed commitment to small business customers, who are so often key engines of economic growth. Citi is also putting much-needed financing toward municipal development projects, with an eye on the effect it can have in boosting whole communities. In fact, last year, we helped generate $58 billion in funding for airports, schools, hospitals, transportation and other purposes in the United States.

As we move forward, we're listening closely so that we can deliver to customers the products, programs and services that fit their needs in these challenging times. A priority is making the terms of what we offer clear, simply stated and readily accessible. We're also embedding features to make it simpler for customers to manage their own finances more responsibly, and rewarding them for doing so. As the financial crisis showed plainly, this is in customers' interest and ours as well.

Responsible finance is the backbone of our business. We're committed to it for our customers, our company and our country.