Citibank has reorganised its operations in the Asia Pacific area, giving top executives in the region much greater responsibility for more of the different products offered.
The move is just one of many creative attempts by the Chief Executive to stir up business activity as well as managing costs since he took over late last year. Such actions have been necessary to help realign Citibank after it suffered badly in the aftermath of the American sub prime lending collapse.
The Asia Pacific region is to be split down into four sub-categories – North Asia, South Asia, Japan and Southeast Asia Pacific – each of which will have a head responsible for all of the different product categories offered by Citibank.
Citibank parent Citigroup is understood to be under investigation by the financial regulator of the United States with regard to some potential breaches of securities law.
The issue revolves around the marketing and selling of what are called auction rate securities. These are a type of bond, most commonly used by municipal authorities when looking to generate funds and the question being looked into is whether the actual risks were understated by Citibank.
No comments have been forthcoming from Citibank so far regarding their discussions with the regulators. Instead they have a statement that says they have worked closely with all parties to make everything go smoothly.
Lloyds TSB has this week increased the rates of interest offered on its Plus current account to 6 percent, an enormous 2 percent more than it was previously.
The new higher interest rate is being offered on this particular Lloyds TSB current account for new customers opening their account before July 13. The only proviso is that at least GBP1,000 per month must be paid into the account, something that is quite common anyway.
Increasing their interest rate is quite a move for Lloyds TSB, though they appreciate that customers in the UK tend to be quite fixed when it comes to their current accounts, tending to stay with the same bank for many years. Lloyds therefore feel they have to really make an impact with their message in order to get people to consider moving and an impact it certainly is.
