Citi's private banking roots date back to the 1820s when a predecessor company of today's Citi Trust (a trust and estate-planning division) started managing the accounts of wealthy British and other European families domiciled in the United States.

The business is transformed as consumer banking becomes a priority, and the ATM delivers 24-hour service. In 1974, John Reed became head of the new Consumer Services Group. Believing that consumer banking would become a core business, he outlined a long-term vision. "We are creating something new," he wrote in 1976.

Global Citi History. National City Bank's first office on Wall Street 38, 1812. In 1812, America had neither a national banking system nor a central bank. In New York, the state assembly was deeply divided between two warring factions of the Democratic Republican Party which both wanted to set up a new bank.

1996: Citi became the first private (vs. state-owned) bank to issue a bond, and one of the few private companies to do so since the 1960s, thus helping to grow local capital markets. 1998: Citi became only the second US bank to enter the retail banking business in Egypt.

Citi's 200 year history Citibank opened for business in 1812, and since then, has been a major player in some of the world’s most innovative breakthroughs in banking, including the pioneering of the world’s first ATM.