Citi plans to sell 20 of its businesses

He said that the move was due to the shift in the consumer finance market where “there is less funding availability and they are probably less robust as businesses.”

Pandit also said that the group’s capital position following the completion of the exchange of preferred shares for common equity in July, reflected an “incredible financial strength.”

“On the completion of our exchange offer, we had 12.7 per cent Tier 1 capital and more than 9 per cent Tier 1 common capital,” Pandit said. The bank has said in July investors have agreed to swap $32.8 billion of preferred securities for common stock, and the US government, which will officially take a 34 per cent equity at the bank and become its largest shareholder, will swap $25 billion.

Further, it conducted the offers after heavy credit losses and writedowns prompted a series of bailouts, including a $45 billion injection of taxpayer funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme.