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PERSPECTIVES

Realizing the power and potential of a fantastic franchise

August 01, 2017
Stephen Bird, CEO, Global Consumer Banking

Last week, I experienced one of the proudest moments in my nearly twenty years at Citi as I took the stage at Investor Day, our first in nine years, to share the story of the Global Consumer Bank's transformation and growth.

After holding a number of roles across the firm and leading our franchise in Asia for many years, I have the privilege today of leading the Global Consumer Bank. It is a fantastic franchise – a globally recognized brand; strong competitive positions in growth markets; best-in-class value propositions; leading digital capabilities; disciplined credit and expense management; and the most focused, talented team on the street. And it is critical to Citi's future.

As our CEO Michael Corbat noted, the time was right to hold an Investor Day because the firm has crossed an inflection point.

Over the past few years, we streamlined our Consumer franchise, honed our strategy and made important investments across the business that are now bearing fruit. Today, we come to market with a far stronger set of products and digital capabilities than ever before and a strong foundation from which to grow. This gives us confidence that we can sustain and accelerate the momentum that we've seen over the past year with a path forward that has multiple engines, with every region and business contributing to earnings growth.

Looking at the franchise today, we are on offense. We are intensifying our focus on winning in the U.S., Mexico and Asia. We have developed strong global capabilities that we are deploying locally with high impact and relevance. Our segmentation strategy is sharper with new products and partnerships that are breaking through with clients, while maintaining our risk discipline. We continue to set the pace with the right mix of bricks and clicks, putting mobile at the core of a simpler, better customer experience. And we've radically changed the way we deploy technology, adopting a mobile-first approach that is massively accelerating our speed to market with new digital features.

In short, we really like the hand we're playing:

  • Strong franchises in growing markets that are an attractive mix of developed and emerging;
  • A disciplined target client strategy;
  • A light physical footprint, consistent with where the world is going; and
  • A compelling set of global capabilities, particularly digital, that differentiate us from competitors.

And over the past year, we've returned to top-line growth. Why?

Because we are executing a client-led growth strategy. No great business can grow sustainably unless its customers feel the benefit of its services and the value it creates every day. We compete on having better value products, world-class service and technology, and a brand that makes a promise that we fulfill. That's the sustainable path to growth. We are on it. And it's a great place to be.

I was struck last week by an analyst report headline: "Citigroup: Daring to Dream." I don't believe we've yet started to dream as big as we can. But we will.

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