Citigroup plans 40 pc asset cut: Vikram Pandit

FRANKFURT: US banking giant Citigroup, which suffered big losses in 2008 and 2009, plans to reduce its assets by 40 percent as it undergoes a sweeping restructuring, chief executive Vikram Pandit said on Monday.

The bank is determined to return to fundamentals and had learned its lesson from the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, Pandit said during a conference at European Central Bank headquarters here.

He also appealed for greater transparency on financial markets, in particular for derivative instruments.

Citigroup suffered losses of 9.0 billion dollars (6.6 billion euros) in 2009 after a shortfall of nearly 30 billion dollars in 2008 and was partially nationalised in order to avoid bankruptcy.