More on Citi's retail strategy

September 24, 2009 | By Jim Kim

Is this the beginning of the end for Citi as a national retail power? You certainly can't fault it for wanting to scale back in areas where it has a small presence, such as Boston, Philadelphia and Texas, and beef up in markets where it's a legitimate retail power, such as New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. To boost profitability, it needs a much smaller physical footprint, apparently, and some are applauding this news.

All this points to the larger, strategic direction at the bank. It will be hard pressed to be all things to all people, the way it has long aspired to be. Increasingly, and this holds across all geographies and business lines, it will have to pick and choose where it can really play. It might not ever be a prime brokerage power. It might not ever mount a big foothold in China. All this needs to be rationalized now and put into a strategy that people can seize on. The big picture has been fuzzy.

For more:
- here's an AP article