Interesting disparity in size between these banks.

Citigroup will open 4 offices in Hub as part of push to grow – The Boston Globe

The four branches — located in Downtown Crossing, Back Bay, Fenway, and Government Center — will be Citi’s first in Massachusetts when they open later this year, and they are part of a nationwide expansion of its consumer business in the United States and abroad.

Though Citi has more assets than any other US bank, it has less than a fifth of the branches as its next-largest competitor, Bank of America Corp. Citibank executives, aware of the disadvantage, have said they plan to open between 70 and 100 new branches in the United States this year.

The entrance of another banking giant is likely to shake up the Boston market yet again after two tumultuous years following Bank of America’s $48 billion takeover of FleetBoston Corp., the region’s largest bank, in 2004. With more banks competing for dollars, customers are likely to benefit. Citi, for example, is advertising an online savings account with a 4.75 percent annual percentage yield, among the highest nationally. It is heavily promoting its “ThankYou” rewards program, in which Citi customers can earn points for things such as using debit cards or getting a mortgage and redeem them for airline tickets, cruises, and other rewards

Boston remains a highly competitive market.

Citi already has one million credit card customers in Massachusetts, more than 83,000 mortgage customers, and 82,000 customers of its brokerage, Smith Barney . Citi executives are betting that they can persuade those customers to transfer their checking accounts to Citibank branches. They also think college students from the United
States and abroad will sign up with Citi.

Finally some additional background on Citi globally, to wrap up.

Citigroup has long coveted the Boston market. When Fleet executives decided to sell the bank, Citi held serious talks to buy it.

Also in Massachusetts, Citigroup has about 22 offices for its consumer finance arm, CitiFinancial , a dozen Smith Barney offices, and a mortgage wholesale office.

While Citi’s global retail banking operation has grown rapidly, its consumer business in the United States has struggled recently. Revenue in the US consumer business fell 9
percent in the first quarter to $7.3 billion , while net income fell 4 percent to $2 billion. Citi has been expanding its branches in the United States and globally through acquisitions and new openings. Last year in the United States , it opened 51 new branches and consumer finance offices, and acquired 106 more. It now has retail branches in several large markets outside its New York home, including California, Texas, and Illinois.