To salvage its business in the wake of massive losses, Citigroup Inc. said today that it’s planning on whittling down its assets by about $500 billion, from $2.2 trillion to about $1.7 trillion over the next few years, and growing its revenue by about 9 percent.
The proposed write-down follows the shedding of about $38 billion in assets since late summer of last year. The global institution has also announced about 13,200 job cuts worldwide so far. Â
The company has suffered heavy blows in the wake of the deterioration in the mortgage and credit markets. Citigroup currently holds about $29 billion in mortgage investments and related structured products. It also has $63 billion in exposure to home equity hoans, $150 billion to mortgages, $21 billion to auto loans and other exposure to consumer loans like credit cards. That, analysts say, leaves room for more billion-dollar write-downs and will force the bank to build up its reserves even more.
