Citibank to Accept Mexican Consular IDs as Primary Identification for Bank Account Openings in U.S.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2002

Citibank announced today it will begin accepting Mexican Consular IDs on March 18 as a primary form of identification for Mexican immigrants opening bank accounts in the U.S. Citibank will accept the card, which is known as a Matricula Consular and identifies the holder as a Mexican national, at Citibank's 445 Financial Centers across the U.S.

"There are currently 35 million Hispanics in the U.S., and 60% of those are of Mexican descent," said Maura Markus, President of Citibanking North America. "Our primary objective with this initiative is to offer another reliable and verifiable identification option in the account-opening process for Mexican nationals in the U.S. We want to deepen our relationship with the Hispanic community and look forward to providing a wide range of financial services to this vibrant and growing sector of the U.S. population."

Salvador Beltran del Rio, Consul General for Mexico in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said, "Mexicans in the U.S. have a wide variety of financial services needs. The ability to use a Mexican government-issued ID as a form of primary identification at Citibank will help ease the way for them to access products and services appropriate to meet their needs."

There are 48 local Mexican Consulates in the U.S. which issue Mexican Consular ID cards to Mexicans residing in the U.S. Card applicants are required to provide various forms of identification, including original birth certificates, along with other forms of ID such as passport, military service carnet, Mexican driver's license, voter's card, permanent resident card or State drivers license. Also, the card applicant must provide a utility bill with an address corresponding to their ID. The consular IDs may only be used to open accounts in the states in which they were issued.

When opening a U.S. Citibank account, the applicant must also present a secondary form of identification such as a retail credit card, drivers license, recent pay stub or a utility bill with an address corresponding to other pieces of identification, among others. Applicants must also furnish a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

Citibank is uniquely positioned to serve the financial needs of people of Mexican descent both in the U.S. and Mexico. Having operated in Mexico for over 70 years, Citibank combined its operations there with Banamex, (Banco Nacional de Mexico) in 2001, and now operates under the Banamex name in Mexico. Banamex was founded in 1884 and is currently the leading bank in Mexico with over 1,500 branches in the country. Citibank also conducts financial education seminars in Spanish at many of its U.S. Financial Centers. Spanish language customer service is available at Citibank by phone and at all U.S. Citibank financial centers either through in-branch bank personnel or translation service providers. All Citibank ATMs in the U.S. feature full transactional capabilities in Spanish, in addition to other languages.

Citigroup (NYSE:C), the preeminent global financial services company with some 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage, and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Travelers. Additional information may be found at: www.citigroup.com.