The New York Times has got hold of a copy of an internal memo Citi boss Vikram Pandit sent to his staff Wednesday. Titled 'Business Update', it's reproduced below.

'From: Vikram Pandit
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 12:34 PM
Subject: Business Update

Dear colleagues,

When I began my day this morning in Hong Kong, I spoke with Senior Managers about our global business and the progress we are making as a result of the ongoing business reviews I'm conducting around the world. I thought it would be helpful to share some of my thoughts with you.

While we face a challenging economic environment in many segments of our operations, fundamentally we remain strong. No other financial services firm has the combination of businesses that Citi has, or is as uniquely positioned as we are, to leverage global and regional growth. We maintain incredibly strong positions in emerging markets throughout Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This is a point of pride for us and represents tremendous opportunity.

At the same time, Citi is financially sound • we are well capitalized and extremely focused on the strength of our balance sheet. On a pro-forma basis at the end of last year, we exceeded our regulatory requirements and internal targets for capital levels. We anticipate that divesting some of our peripheral businesses will further contribute to our capital base. Additionally, in December and January, we took decisive steps including two separate rounds of financing, increasing capital by more than $30 billion • a level that was stressed-tested against a number of economic downturn scenarios. The financing we secured is a vote of confidence in Citi, our future and you.

As I have discovered during the business reviews, there are dynamic and thriving businesses at Citi's core. These business lines include our leading global credit card business, our leading global wealth management business, our global transaction services, investment banking and trading, as well as our flagship retail banking in the U.S. and many elements of our consumer group. Also included are Citi's retail banking operations in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, among others. Simply put: no other financial services firm has assets and businesses positioned as well as these to leverage global and regional growth opportunities.

Balancing this, of course, are the ongoing concerns around certain of our assets such as leveraged loans and parts of the mortgage portfolio. We will determine how to best treat these assets in a way that benefits our clients, generates additional shareholder value and rewards our employees.

Strong capital management and capital allocation are two of the four priorities I have identified that will make Citi stronger. Another priority has been to institute a new integrated approach to risk management under the leadership of Brian Leach. And we will continue to focus on improving operations and making Citi more efficient and responsive to emerging trends and growth opportunities. We will re-engineer businesses to more directly address the needs of our clients, such as the strategic realignment of the U.S. Global Wealth Management organization implemented and announced by Sallie Krawcheck this week.

My recent business reviews have brought me to London, Mexico City, Warsaw, Istanbul, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, and I am now in Seoul. I am encouraged by the entrepreneurial spirit and desire to make Citi stronger that I've found across all the Citi offices I've visited.

The business reviews are ongoing and I plan to be in touch regularly with updates. In the meantime, it is critical that we remain focused on providing the highest quality service to our customers. While there is lots of work to do, we have very good reasons to be confident in our future and in the unmatched opportunity we are creating every day.

With respect and regards,
Vikram'

Source - The New York Times

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