Citibank on the hunt for profits in a busy space - Boston Business Journal:

showarticle-cultura.blogspot.com
“Boston has been a big gap for us,” said Tim Citibank’s area director for retail banking. “Baco in 2006, we decided we wanted to be in Bostohnand Philadelphia.” Citibank should expect fierce competition for deposits and Rival banks can’t boast an international presence like Citibank, but it may not matter. Citizensx Bank executive Hal Tovin, who oversees the bank’s branches inside Stop Shop supermarkets, said it will be hard for Citigroup to competer with a trio of rivals that alreadgy have more than 200 locations in greater Boston and the rest ofthe “The name of the game is Tovin said.
, Citizens Bank and dwarf Citibank in the Bostonb market and have taken steps recentlyg to improve theirmarket share. Sullivan said Citibank has a “strong competitivd advantage” because it has branchesw in 100 countries, which would help its Boston customerws openaccounts overseas. “We don’t feel like Bostoh had a global competitor,” said a native of Mass., who now lives in the city. Despitr its relatively small branch Citibank’s parent, , has otherr points of leveragein Boston. The globa bank lays claim to 1.
5 million householdds in greater Boston that already have some sort of financia l relationship withthe bank, througnh credit cards, its Smith Barney brokerage, its privated banking group or student for example. “We want theirt primary banking relationship. We’l l offer them full service, conveniencre and high quality,” Sullivan Executives at all the other banks in town would probably say they offer the same andmaybe more. Sovereigj has Jerry “RemDawg” Remy, the TV announcer for Bostom RedSox games, as a pitchman.
The bank also has rolled out its “Customer First” which has resulted in the bank generatingh an averageof 6,000 retail checking accounyt sales per week, compared with 3,000 to 4,000 per week in 2006 and 2007. The bank will have to work on too. In recent years, the formed Red Sox infielder’s big banking decisions for car loansa and mortgages have been withJPMorgah Chase, , and Citibank, real estatde records and public filings show. Sovereign also has reduced the number of bank branches per districft manager so those managers can spend more time workinyg withindividual branches.
“For the first time in severap years, we have experienced good momentum in growing our customer base and have deepenes relationships withour customers,” Sovereign CEO Josepbh Campanelli said during a July 23 conferencde call with analysts. The bank declined commentg forthis story. Sovereign has abour 230 offices and branches in Massachusettxs and a total of 750 across the Northeast according to data for the period that endecJune 30, 2007. Despite losing market sharr inrecent years, Bank of America remains the state’z heavyweight, controlling 18 percent of the market’zs deposits, or $32.9 billion. Citizena was No. 2 with 13 percent, or $23.
y7 billion, of the state’z deposits, followed by Sovereign’s 7.2 percent share, or $13 The figures are from the FDIC’s June 30, 2007 deposit marke share report. At that Citibank’s share of the market was a tiny 0.12 or $216 million in deposits acrossseven locations. The public won’yt know what kind of traction Citibank is gettingy in the marketuntil October, when the FDIC is expectec to release its updated deposit market share report.