Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup.[2] Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City Bank of New York.[3] The bank has branches in 19 countries.[citation needed] The U.S. branches are concentrated in six metropolitan areas: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Miami.[1]
Citibank is the 4th largest bank in the United States in terms of assets.[4]
The City Bank of New York was founded on June 16, 1812.[5] The first president of the City Bank was the statesman and retired Colonel, Samuel Osgood. After Osgood's death in August 1813, William Few became President of the bank, staying until 1817, followed by Peter Stagg (1817–1825), Thomas Smith (1825–1827), Isaac Wright (1827–1832), and Thomas Bloodgood (1832–1843). After the Panic of 1837, Moses Taylor acquired control of the company.[6] During Taylor's ascendancy, the bank functioned largely as a treasury and finance center for Taylor's own extensive business empire.[7] Later presidents of the bank included Gorham A. Worth (1843–1856), Moses Taylor himself (1856–1882), Taylor's son-in-law Percy Rivington Pyne I, and James Stillman (1891–1909).[6]
In 1831, City Bank was the site of one of America's first bank heists when two burglars, James Honeyman and William J. Murray,[8] made off with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of bank notes, and 398 gold doubloons,[9][8] the equivalent of $52 million in 2013 currency.[10]
The bank financed war bonds for the War of 1812, serving as a founding member of the financial clearinghouse in New York (1853), underwriting the Union during the American Civil War with $50 million in war bonds, opening the first foreign exchange department of any bank (1897), and receiving a $5 million deposit to be given to Spain for the US acquisition of the Philippines (1899). In 1865, the bank joined the national banking system of the United States under the National Bank Act and became The National City Bank of New York. By 1868, it was one of the largest banks in the United States. The bank became the largest bank in New York City after the Panic of 1893 and the largest bank in the U.S. by 1895.[6] It helped finance the Panama Canal in 1904. By 1906, 11% of the federal government's bank balances were held by National City. National City at this time was the banker of Standard Oil, and the Chicago banking factions accused US Secretary of the Treasury L. M. Shaw of having too close of a relationship with National City and other Wall Street operators.[11] In 1907, Stillman, then the bank's chairman, intervened, along with J. P. Morgan and George Fisher Baker, in the Panic of 1907.
