Citigroup CFO: Breakup Not in the Cards

"We really don't have any intention to split up the various elements of the banks, and so it's just not an issue that we focused on at all," Crittenden told the $2.1 trillion-asset company's debt holders during a conference call Wednesday.

Diversified funding, including a global deposit base, is one of Citi's strengths, he said. "There is lots of reasons beyond just a fact that we think being focused on customers and providing the broad range of needs that customers have," Crittenden said.

"But there are some really well grounded economic reasons. We don't think a split of the company is a right way for us to go, and the net result of that is that we simply don't ever think about how we would apportion the debt among various entities of the company."

Only last week, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees' Pension Plan called Citigroup Chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff "to restore shareholder value" by breaking up the company's "unwieldy" structure into two separate entities.

Meanwhile. Citigroup Treasurer Zion Shohet said the $2.1 trillion-asset company plans to raise up to $35 billion in debt this year.

"For Citigroup's termed issuance program, we have an annual borrowing target of $38 billion to $46 billion," he said. "Given our year-to-date borrowing our expected funding for remainder of the year is $18 billion to $26 billion."

Another $3 billion to $9 billion is expected to come through its Citigroup Funding Inc. subsidiary, Shohet said.

The treasurer also said that Citi will continue to diversify the currency denomination of its funding. "We will continue to target roughly 50% non-dollar component to the program and an eight-year weighted average maturity," the treasurer said.

Currency diversification plays into what Citi executives have long said is not only Citi's main distinction from U.S. rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC), but also its most significant strength: geographic diversification of revenue, income, and funding.

For example, 30% of the up to $9 billion Citi wants to raise in senior or subordinated debt through Citigroup Funding will be non-dollar denominated, Shohet said.

"We've had a commitment to globally diversify our funding program," he said. "Our non-U.S. dollar borrowings account for 47.6% of total issuance across six currencies. In 2007, we issued a similar percentage, 47.8% in non-U.S. dollars in a dozen currencies."

Shohet did not disclose how much capacity Citi has left to issue hybrid securities.

Citigroup shares recently fell 20 cents, or 1%, to $20.70.

-- Matthias Rieker, Dow Jones Newswires