Who Owns Citigroup?

The simplest way to explain who owns Citigroup (C -0.32%) is this: The bank is owned by shareholders. The details of those shareholders and the company's history are less simple to explain, however.

Below you'll learn highlights of Citigroup's history that shaped its evolution from a small state bank to a globally diversified financial services holding company. Also included are lists of Citi's largest owners and its board of directors, plus information on three ways to invest in the company today.

Who's the owner?

Who is the owner of Citigroup?

Citigroup trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker C. As a public company, Citigroup has no single owner. Rather, ownership is split among many shareholders, including institutional investors, insiders, and retail investors. Citigroup's five largest institutional and insider investors are listed in the next section.

Institutional investors are mainly asset managers. Insiders are employees and directors at the company. And retail investors are individuals investing for themselves, not professionally.

Citigroup has been publicly traded and shareholder-owned since 1968, when its predecessor company, First National City Corporation, became listed on the NYSE. Since then, the company has changed its name, merged, and acquired new assets to evolve into today's Citigroup. Seven significant organizational milestones are described below.

1. 1974: First National City Corporation, the bank's holding company, changed its name to Citicorp.
2. 1976: First National City Bank was renamed Citibank, N.A. Around this time, the bank would publicly call itself by the nickname Citi in the slogan, "Citi never sleeps."
3. 1997: Financial services company Travelers acquired leading investment firm Salomon Brothers. Travelers then merged the new acquisition with Smith Barney Holdings to create Salomon Smith Barney.
4. 1998: Citicorp merged with Travelers. The merger created the world's largest bank. The combined entity took the Citigroup name and listed itself on the NYSE under the ticker CCI. Before year-end, Citigroup shortened its ticker to C. Chrysler had formerly used C as its ticker, but the symbol became available after Chrysler merged with Daimler-Benz AG.
5. 2002: Citigroup spun off Travelers Property Casualty. That company traded on the NYSE under the ticker TAP until it merged with St. Paul Companies in 2004. The post-merger company later changed its name to The Travelers Companies (TRV -0.41%).
6. 2005: Citigroup sold the Travelers Life & Annuity insurance businesses to MetLife (MET 0.69%).
7. 2009: Citigroup merged Smith Barney with Morgan Stanley (MS 0.1%) to create Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Citi retained a stake in the joint venture for a few years but eventually sold it to Morgan Stanley.

Largest shareholders

Who are the largest shareholders?

Today, Citigroup's largest shareholders are Vanguard, BlackRock (NYSE:BRK), State Street Corporation (SST 1.56%), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.28%)(BRK.B -0.68%), and Geode Capital Management. Here's a closer look at each of these shareholders and the size of their positions in Citigroup.

1. Vanguard owns 166 million shares of Citigroup. At a share price of $61.60, the position is worth more than $10.2 billion. It also accounts for 8.71% of the bank's outstanding shares. Vanguard is an asset manager that popularized low-cost investment funds. Vanguard also has an interesting ownership structure. The company is owned by its funds, and those funds are owned by their respective shareholders. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF (VTI 0.02%) and Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO -0.07%) both have sizable positions in Citigroup.
2. BlackRock holds 165 million shares of Citigroup. The position is valued at about $10.2 billion and comprises 8.68% of available Citigroup shares. BlackRock operates mutual funds, iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and closed-end funds. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV -0.04%) holds more than 19 million shares of Citigroup stock.
3. State Street Corporation holds almost 83 million Citigroup shares. The position is worth over $5 billion and equates to an ownership stake of 4.34%. State Street's Select Sector SPDR Fund-Financial (XLF -0.02%) has almost 13 million shares of Citi.
4. Berkshire Hathaway has been invested in Citigroup since the first quarter of 2022. With more than 55 million Citigroup shares on hand, Berkshire owns 2.9% of the bank, and the position is worth about $3.4 billion. Berkshire Hathaway is the conglomerate holding company run by famed value investor Warren Buffett.
5. Geode Capital Management owns 37 million Citigroup shares valued at over $2 billion. This is a 1.95% ownership stake. Geode is a Boston-based asset manager that caters to institutional investors.

Individual shareholders

Citigroup's major individual shareholders are primarily insiders. The top five insider shareholders are Jane Fraser, Andrew Morton, David Livingstone, Andrew Sieg, and Mike Whitaker. The share counts noted are current as of mid-February 2024.

1. Jane Fraser is Citigroup's CEO. She has served the bank for more than 19 years in various leadership roles. She was previously a partner with McKinsey & Company. Fraser has 544,156 Citigroup shares, valued at about $34 million. Her ownership stake is 0.028%.
2. Andrew Morton serves as head of markets for Citigroup. He joined the company as an employee in 2008 after a 15-year tenure at Lehman Brothers. Morton's portfolio is worth roughly $26 million. His 425,004 shares account for 0.022% of the company's market cap.
3. David Livingstone has been chief client officer for Citigroup since September 2023. Formerly CEO of the bank's Europe, Middle East, and Africa business, Livingstone holds 403,146 Citigroup shares worth about $25 million. His position is a 0.021% ownership stake.
4. Andrew Sieg is head of wealth at Citigroup. He has held senior leadership roles in wealth management since 2005. Sieg's Citigroup investment has a market value of about $18 million, and he owns 299,293 shares, 0.016% of the bank's outstanding stock.
5. Mike Whitaker is Citigroup's head of operations and technology. He's been in the role since 2018, after a four-decade career of increasing responsibility in technology and financial services. Whitaker holds 285,978 shares of Citigroup. His position, valued at approximately $18 million, represents a 0.015% ownership stake.

Board of directors

Who is on the board of directors for Citigroup?

Citigroup is governed by its 13-member board of directors. Here's a look at their backgrounds:

1. Ellen Costello is the former president and CEO of Bank of Montreal (BMO -1.04%) She came into that role after two decades in various leadership roles for the bank. Today, Bank of Montreal is the eighth-largest North American bank in terms of assets.
2. Grace Dailey came to the Citigroup board after a career in public service. Her most recent role was senior deputy comptroller for bank supervision policy within the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. She was also an examiner and assistant deputy comptroller.
3. Barbara Desoer is chair and CEO of Citibank, N.A., Citigroup's main banking subsidiary.
4. John Dugan chairs the Citigroup board. He's served in that capacity since 2019 and has been on the board since 2017. He was formerly partner and chair of Covington & Burling LLP's financial institution group. Dugan was also comptroller of the currency from 2005-2010.
5. Jane Fraser is the company's CEO and a director. She has held the CEO position since 2021.
6. Duncan Hennes is co-founder and partner of Atrevida Partners, LLC. Atrevida is a private wealth manager that specializes in alternative investments.
7. Peter Blair Henry brings academic experience to the Citigroup board. Henry is a former dean emeritus at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business.
8. S. Leslie Ireland held high-level public service roles from 1985 to 2016. Between 2010 and 2016, she served as assistant secretary and head of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis under the U.S. Treasury Department.
9. Renée James is the founder, chair, and CEO of Ampere Computing. Ampere Computing is a California-based fabless semiconductor company specializing in low-power, high-performance central processing units (CPUs).
10. Gary Reiner is an operating partner with growth equity investor General Atlantic, LLC. General Atlantic has $83 billion in assets under management.
11. Diana Taylor is a former superintendent of banks for the state of New York. After serving in that role from 2007-2014, she became a managing director for Wolfensohn Fund Management, LP, and then vice chair for Solera Capital LLC.
12. James Turley was chairman and CEO of professional advisory firm Ernst & Young from 2001 to 2013.
13. Casper W. von Koskull brings his experience as former president and group CEO for Nordea Bank Apb (OTC:NRDBY) to the Citigroup board. Nordea Bank has been operating in the Nordic region for 200 years.

Related investing topics

How to invest

How to invest in Citigroup

You can invest in Citigroup by purchasing shares directly through your investment account. If you plan to invest in whole shares, you'd place a buy order specifying the number of shares you want.

Some brokers support fractional purchases as well. Fractional orders typically note the dollar amount you want to invest rather than a share count. You might request to buy, say, $30 worth of Citigroup. At a $61.50 share price, that order would deliver 0.48 shares, assuming you don't pay fees on the trade.

You can also invest in Citigroup indirectly via a mutual fund or ETF. If you're investing in a 401(k), a fund is likely your only option for Citigroup exposure. Citigroup is a member of the S&P 500, so any S&P 500 fund will include Citi stock.

You should also find Citi stock in funds that replicate the S&P Global 100 and the S&P Composite 1500. The S&P Global 100 includes 100 blue chip stocks with multinational operations. The S&P Composite 1500 combines the S&P's large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap indexes for a basket of 1,500 stocks that cover 90% of U.S. market capitalization.

Citigroup is also a likely constituent in funds that specialize in bank stocks. If you're interested in targeted banking exposure, see our complete guide to investing in bank stocks.

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