Wall Street Journal

Miles Christensen

T.A. Aaron Lawrence

Section: 10:00 Friday

Wall Street Journal Extra Credit

Citi Chief Says Moves Are Paying Off.

Just days after UBS AG's board left town without a permanent CEO, thanks to a rouge trading scandal that cost them 2.3 Billion, Vikram Pandit the CEO of City Group held the companies first ever board meeting in Asia. He is claiming that Asian gains will set the bank on a new course that will compensate investors who have gone largely without dividends in the past two years. It has been a long time since Mr. Pandit has been able to portray his bank as an island of calm in the midst of a financial storm. During the brunt of the financial crisis Citigroup was near collapse but they were bailed out by the government who pledged hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make them bounce back. Citigroup has paid off all its government loans in the last few years. Other banks have not been so fortunate; bank of America has suffered a 54 percent decrease in the price of their stock this year. Morgan and Chase & Co. Is facing tough Canadian bank regulations that will limit their profits. Mr. Pandit claims that Citygroup's 700 bank branches in the Asian market will generate a return by the end of the year. Wall Street does not agree with Pandits predictions however, Citygroup stock shares have dropped 45 percent this year and most investors do not expect to see improvement as soon as Mr. Pandit expects.

This relates to business and accounting because Citigroup is one of the largest banks in the world any major activity they have is major business news. Many of people invest and bank with Citigroup.

I like the investors am skeptical that Mr. Pandit's predictions are correct. I am skeptical that they will make that much profit off of the Asian market. The only thing that makes me feel more comfortable with Citigroup is the fact that they have paid off all of their government loans.

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