Largest Banks in the World Citicorp and Citibank Part 2

About one of the largest banks in the world Citicorp or Citibank, history and holdings, personalities and presidents.

BEHIND THE TELLER'S WINDOW--THE BIG BANKS

Citicorp

Personalities: George F. Baker, Sr., who helped start First National in 1863, when he was 23 years old, was a director of the company from 1863 until his death in 1931 at the age of 91. He served as president of the bank from 1877 to 1909 and as chairman from 1909 to 1931. Baker never went to college, but he donated large sums to several prestigious institutions.

He gave $6 million to found and support the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He donated the money for Columbia University's Baker Field and gave $2 million to Cornell University and $1 million for the Baker Memorial Library at Dartmouth.

Baker was succeeded as head of First National by his son, George F. Baker, Jr., and at the time First National was merged with National City, his grandson was a member of First National's board of directors.

James Stillman, former president of National City, was very particular about how his food was cooked. He required four eggs for breakfast, and his chef sometimes had to cook dozens of eggs before Stillman considered those served him worthy of being eaten. Once he returned a squab without having eaten it and was astonished to be served squab for the next three days in a row--even though he sent each subsequent bird back uneaten. The cooks thought he liked squab because when the trays got back to the kitchen only the bones were left. A hungry office boy had eaten them.

James Stillman Rockefeller was president of the National City Bank when it merged with the First National City Bank. He stayed on as the new chief executive. He is the grandson of James Stillman and William Rockefeller.

Henry Wriston, the father of current chairman Walter Wriston, is president emeritus of Brown University.

Present-Day Holdings: Citicorp is a one-bank holding company. Its principal asset is Citibank. The company has over $40 billion in loans outstanding to customers in over 100 countries around the world. Except for the U.S., no country has more than 7% of the loans.

Citicorp's subsidiaries include Banco de Honduras, Citibank Aktiengesellschaft, Banco Internacional de Colombia, Far East Bank Limited, and several banks with the name Citibank or First National City in Belgium, the Channel Islands, Liberia, Luxembourg, Morocco, and Zaire.

In addition, Citicorp conducts banking operations through affiliate banks, such as Banco de Caldas, Bank of Lebanon and Kuwait, Banque Internationale pour l'Afrique Occidentale, Feati Bank and Trust Company, Grindlays Bank Limited, Iranians' Bank, La Banque de Polynesie, the Mercantile Bank of Canada, and the Wang Lee Bank, Limited.

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